Last week I talked about the long term care needs of people with the long lasting version of Lyme Disease, this week I would like to look at the long term care needs of Alzheimer’s patients and their partners. Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that impacts a person’s memory and connection with the here and now. It is most commonly found in people over the age of 65, however, younger victims are not unheard of.
There are a couple of long term care issues that you need to think about if you, or your partner has been diagnosed with this disease or if there is a history of this disease in your family. The first issue is how you will pay for the long term care that is required leading up to and including the institutionalization of the Alzheimer’s patient. If you live alone and have this disease then you may need home health agencies to check in on you to make sure that you are eating, dressing appropriately for the weather and keeping your home clean and safe. If you live with someone then you may want to plan for respite care to give them a break when your disease progresses.
The second long term care that you will need to plan for is assisted living and/or nursing home care. Both of these in-patient options are expensive. Assisted living facilities can easily top $4,000 a month for a single person and nursing homes can cost upwards of $5,500 a month for a private room. This is a huge expense that most people in the United States can’t afford to pay out of their own pocket, and Medicare is not going to cover nursing home care indefinitely.
In order to cover the costs associated with the long term care needs of Alzheimer’s patients you need a quality long term care insurance program that offers you the coverage you need for the price you can afford. Next week I will be talking about comprehensive long term care health insurance and mobility issues.