With aging, the need for long-term care appears; therefore, for many people, the problem of financing such programs is currently essential. Long-term care services assume a wide range of health support and assistance, which are “needed by individuals over an extended period of time” (Congressional Research Service, 2018). Such medical assistance includes “home health care through community-based services, assisted living, general nursing home care, skilled nursing home, and rehabilitation care, all the way up to acute-level hospital-based care” (Vogel, 2002, p. 1). There are several options for covering the payment, including federal and private sources. However, the cost of long-term care is usually exceedingly high, making funding difficult.
There are several options for funding such services from the state budget. However, the modern healthcare system faces a crisis related to benefits programs for the elderly and disabled (Vogel, 2002). Medicare and Medicaid are programs funded both from federal and state budgets. Currently, they cover about 70 percent of long-term care costs (Congressional Research Service, 2018). However, obtaining assistance through government programs can be difficult due to strict requirements. For example, Medicaid follows federal poverty guidelines, according to which a person should have no more than 2000 income per month, no more than 2000 assets (excluding home value and vehicle), and be single (Dias, 2018). Therefore, not many people can apply to the program; meanwhile, few families can afford to pay for long-term care from their savings.
There are various options for purchasing insurance, which provides partial coverage or benefits as well. Several types of insurance currently exist, proposing different benefits and coverage. However, not many families can afford such insurance programs, while the cost of care is constantly increasing (Chernof, 2013). Moreover, many of these options are no longer cost-effective due (Dias, 2018). Thus, there is a crisis in the sector of public funding for long-term care, as the number of elderly and disabled people increases, as does the cost of such services. Government funding programs impose significant demands on those wishing to receive them and pressure on the state budget. There are also private programs that receive funding from various resources, providing non-profit or only for-profit services. As well as government programs, they give assistance to specific populations, limiting their influence (Polivka, 2012). However, they focus on helping different groups of the population, offering various benefits and services, making them more flexible. Moreover, such organizations can help to reduce long-term care costs through coordination with federal administrative responsibility.
Another option is to pay for care from personal savings; therefore, it is necessary to consider such services’ costs. Out-of-pocket spendings cover about 15% of total long-term care costs (Congressional Research Service, 2018). According to the research, the annual cost of various types of long-term care ranges from $ 50,000 to $ 100,000 (Long-term care, 2020). Thus, many people need to plan their savings to pay for such expenses, which can be helped by the private sector healthcare facilities (Vogel, 2002). However, there are ways to reduce the cost of services, which presupposes a combination of “different sources of funding – from Medicaid and other public and private sources” (Polivka, 2012, para. 3). Faith-based organizations play a special role since they can work together with public funding, as well as other types of non-profit organizations (Polivka, 2012). Such integration can encourage the development of home and family long-term care. Thus, the complicating situation requires developing new programs for private assistance organizations and support for family care.
References
Chernof, B. (2013). Stepping up to the long-term care crisis. The Health Care Blog. Web.
Congressional Research Service. (2018). Who pays for long-term services and supports? Web.
Long-term care: Options and considerations. (2020). Fidelity. Web.
Polivka, L. (2012). Aging networks can improve long-term care and lower costs. Scholars. Web.
Vogel, T. M. (2002). Private sector long-term care planning. Marquette Elder’s Advisor, 4(2), 1-13.