Nursing Home Evictions Are On The Rise

If you are counting on a government safety net to help you in your retirement, don't. A new trend in nursing homes is to evict residents who are on Medicaid.

Medicare and Medicare Supplement Insurance are not designed to pay the expenses of long term care. Generally they are just regular health insurance programs. So without government programs or private resources, Medicaid steps in to pay the long term care bills.

The problem for nursing homes is that Medicaid payments are far less than the nursing home charges private patients. It's also less than they receive from private insurance programs.

Many nursing homes are concentrating on attracting elderly patients who will only need short term care after surgery or an injury, since these expenses are often covered by health insurance. Many find it difficult to get rooms for patients who are disabled for the long term.

Some nursing homes refuse to accept patients back after a hospitalization, and others have gone so far as to take former residents and drop them off at the home of family members. When an elderly person loses their place at a nursing home, without family members, there may not be anywhere for them to go.

In most cases, assets like their home have already been sold to cover the cost of their care. Some unscrupulous nursing homes and hospitals have been accused of dumping patients in areas frequented by the homeless. In many cases these patients may have disorders like Alzheimer's disease and be incapable of fending for themselves.

If they have no family to look out for them, they just become lost and die in a short time. A Los Angles television news program actually filmed a hospital van dropping a patient in a low income area of Los Angles.

Most nursing homes haven't resorted to these tactics, but some will close and reopen as rehabilitation centers so they no longer have to keep long term patients on Medicaid. Others have ignored government regulations and evicted patients. Elderly people are rarely able to fight these evictions and those who do may die while the matter is still in court.

In fairness to nursing homes, they are businesses and have to take in enough money to cover maintenance, staff and other expenses. They are also supposed to turn a profit for their investors, which is nearly impossible to do with a large population of Medicaid patients. Until Medicaid pays more reasonable benefits, the trend is likely to continue and more elderly people will be turned away from the care they require.

One way to insure a safety net for yourself or your loved ones is to purchase long term care insurance. This insurance will pay for care after Medicare and supplemental insurance benefits are exhausted.

Policies can be purchased with a cash limit or a time limit, but even then the insurance benefits may allow people to stay longer in a nursing home where they need care. In some states, assets like a family home can be protected by the Medicaid partnership program.

The time to buy long term care insurance is at least 10 years before you plan to retire. An eldercare expert can help with both eldercare and retirement income planning. If you want to insure that your future will be comfortable and secure and that any nursing home care you may require will be covered, see an eldercare planning specialist today.