Home health care is care received at home. This includes services such as part-time skilled nursing care, rehabilitative therapy, home health aide services, and homemaker services. When buying a long-term care policy, make sure that the coverage you seek is provided in the policy and that you understand the conditions under which the policy will pay. Ask the insurance agent about anything you do not understand. Long-term care policies vary in cost and provisions, so carefully select the policy that best meets your needs.
Custodial care accounts for the majority of long-term care needed.
Some long-term care policies, however, do not cover custodial care. And, some of those that do cover custodial care require that the patient have first received skilled or intermediate nursing care before the coverage for custodial care becomes effective. Coverage for services rendered by facilities that are not primarily skilled nursing facilities and that are not certified by Medicare. More than 80 percent of nursing homes fit this description. Coverage that becomes effective whether or not the care was preceded by a recent hospital stay.