It pays for the first 20 days of care in full, but only after you leave the hospital. Medicare may also pay a few dollars a day for an additional 80 days, but this benefit is not very helpful. Since you want to avoid paying for your long-term care from your personal income and savings, the only other option is private insurance. A typical health insurance policy will not pay for long-term care in a nursing home. Still, you need to be careful of what policy terms you buy and what insurance company you deal with.
Many policies pay a fixed per-day rate.
Be sure you don t buy too much coverage, either. If it covers only skilled care, you might never be ill enough to draw on the benefits. On the other hand, adding home care may cost extra. Buy what you can afford. Older LTC policies were designed to pay benefits only if you spent three or more days in the hospital before admission to the nursing home.