Discussing and Assessing the Need for Long-Term Care

Tips on assessing a senior's need for long-term care -- and discussing the subject.

Long-Term Care Insurance: The Risks and Benefits

People have become increasingly aware of how easily long-term care can wipe out a lifetime's savings. Long-term care insurance, also known as nursing home insurance, has been widely advertised as protection against the costs of long-term care, but this insurance is expensive and often provides only limited benefits that may end up covering only a small percentage, or nothing at all, of your total long-term care costs.

Choosing and Paying for a Long-Term Care Facility

Despite significant growth in home care and alternative seniors' residences, nearly one of every two women and one of four men over age 65 will enter a long-term care facility (a.k.a. "nursing home") at some time in their lives. Many nursing facility stays are short ones, to allow a senior to recuperate from an illness, injury, or surgery. But more than a third of all nursing facility stays last more than a year, and many last three years or more.

Is Home Health Care an Option?

More and more elders are turning to home care to meet their personal and health care needs. This trend is particularly welcome in light of public health surveys indicating that up to half of all nursing facility residents could live independently if they had adequate and affordable home care services. Unfortunately, though, for many, long-term home care is not always a practical solution. How do you know if it's right for you or a loved one?

Assisted Living for Seniors

Assisted living (also called sheltered care or catered living) combines much of the homelike atmosphere of independent living with some of the personal care of a nursing facility.

Residential Care Facilities for Seniors With Alzheimer's

Choosing a residential care facility for a person with Alzheimer's disease requires special considerations. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive condition that slowly erodes an elder's ability to think clearly, take care of basic daily needs, and maintain emotional and psychological equilibrium. In

Best Long-Term Care Websites

These are the best websites to find answers to the most common long-term care questions: When should I start thinking about long-term care for myself or a loved one?

How Medicaid Recovers the Cost of Long-Term Care From Your Estate After You Die

If Medicaid pays for nursing home care, the state can try to collect reimbursement for these costs from the person's assets after he or she dies.

When Will Medicaid Pay for a Nursing Home or Assisted Living?

Here's an introduction to Medicaid's complicated rules on eligibility for nursing homes and home health care.

How important is long-term care insurance?

I'm a 55-year-old single woman, with about $300,000 saved up for retirement. I also own my house. Does it make sense for me to buy long-term care insurance? I don't really want to pay the premiums, but I also don't want to die in the street.

Do I need a written contract with my father's care facility?

My father is 91 years old and legally blind. He has recently moved into a care facility -- actually, a private house where a woman cares for the elderly. I pay by the month and we have a verbal understanding of what is included: board, care, transportation to doctors, and other things. It seems like a nice place, but should I make the arrangement more formal?