Does Medicare Pay for Home Care?

Here is the sentence that shocks almost every family: Medicare does not pay for ongoing home care.

Medicare is health insurance — it covers doctors, hospitals, and short-term skilled care. It will pay for home health: nurse and therapy visits ordered by a doctor after an illness or surgery. But the daily help most seniors actually need — bathing, dressing, meals, supervision — is called custodial care, and original Medicare does not cover it. Not after a hospital stay, not for dementia, no matter how many years you paid in. Some Medicare Advantage plans offer limited personal-care benefits, but they’re modest. Families cover home care through savings, long-term care insurance, veterans benefits, or Medicaid programs for those who qualify.

Discovering this in a hospital discharge meeting is a crisis. Discovering it today is a planning opportunity. Learn what Medicare won’t do — before your family is counting on it.

This has been Care Without Crisis Explains, presented by Vanguard Care Solutions.

For more free videos and family resources — or when you’re ready to talk about care at home — visit vanguardcaresolutions.com or call 301-327-1444.