Are there any studies of how LONG a person spends in LTC? My experience is that average LTC (after at-home healthcare) is a few months, max.
People hear a 'weekly' nursing home rate and automatically multiply it by 52 weeks; it might not be the norm. Just guessing.
You're trying to apply statistics to a personal situation. One is not necessarily relevant to the other. For example, we've all heard of people who spiraled down in a care facility within a couple months. My father's been in one for over 18 months and looks pretty healthy by comparison. His father spent 14 years in one. So... which situation applies to you? This is the long-term care version of the SWR and longevity debates.
A good long-term care facility in Denver costs $214/day for a semi-private room and $231/day for a private room. (From the care facility's perspective, a private room hurts their profits.) Dad's monthly invoices are literally calculated by the daily charge. That's just one data point, and from what I can see of their finances they're struggling.
After dealing with close relatives who spent their last months in nursing homes under both Medicare and Medicaid, and others that lived in private assisted living facilities, I can't believe people would willingly choose the "Medicaid options" if they could afford private care. The differences in support, care, lifestyle and quality of life in general are just too great.
I'm not sure how its done in other states, but here in Mass, there is quite an industry built on 'asset hiding'...they advertise on TV and radio non stop.
In the case of my grandad, the administrators of the nursing home couldn't believe he was paying his own way...in 20 years, they never had anyone not on Medicaid, ever (and most people there were far from 'poor')
I agree that its not the best way to go but it seems to be the 'best' way to go around here.
This is an eye opener.
What I'm learning here is that in other parts of the country, those who pay for LTC get better care than those on Medicaid.
My experience locally is that virtually no one pays for their own care and rich and poor sit side by side with equal care.
I might have to move to another state or at least do so when LTC time comes.
Marko, I think you're seeing very green grass on the other side of that fence.
I think the "hide your assets from Medicaid" ads are at least as likely to succeed as the ones for "cheap Viagra online!" and "enlarge your manhood!" I don't see how we'd be able to get any data on the success rate of any of those industries. It's also pretty easy to find plenty of court cases where the family was busted for Medicaid fraud, but nobody pays to put those ads on the media.
Here's some other considerations:
- If your loved one gets taken to a hospital, the care facility is required to hold the room for a couple weeks. When your loved one reaches their 15th day in the hospital, which patient do you think will be welcomed back-- the Medicaid one or a private-pay patient on a waiting list?
- If your loved one exhibits behavioral problems (physical assault, aggressiveness) the care facility can discharge them. I'm not sure how this process works, but I'm pretty sure that you don't want to have to learn how it works either.
- I don't think Medicaid covers haircuts, snacks, newspaper/magazine subscriptions, and other amenities that my father enjoys.
- Which care facility offers better resources, as validated by the (infrequent) inspections? One with a high percentage of Medicaid patients, or one that has private-pay revenue to hire qualified staff and keep them trained? The nurse on my Dad's wing has been in the business for 20 years and it's clear that he gets a tremendous shot of fulfillment from taking care of his patients.
Our different perspectives of the system are influenced by our personal experiences and by the media. But most of all they're influenced by the lack of quality data.
