In this article, I am going to explain the difference between Medicaid and Medicare.
I’m going to give you a brief discussion of both, and then hopefully the differences will be clear, especially as it applies to coverage in a nursing home for long-term care.
Click here to watch my video on the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid.
Medicare is a government benefit health insurance
That’s the key concept. Medicare is health insurance. You have Medicare coverage that you have paid in, and is deducted through your Social Security, depending on the Medicare plan you have.
You also may have a Medicare supplement plan, which is like supplemental insurance in addition to your Medicare premium that’s taken out of your Social Security. That’s Medicare health insurance.
Florida Nursing Home Medicaid is an Additional Benefit for Long-Term Care
For the purpose of this article, when I talk about Medicaid, it’s for the nursing home. Nursing care is expensive. In Jacksonville, where I’m making this video, it can be between as little as $7,500 but as high as $10,000 a month.
So what Medicaid does is help families who cannot afford to pay that each month. It helps with the nursing home bill.
The difference between the two is Medicare is health insurance, and Medicaid for nursing care picks up where Medicare leaves off – usually after 100 days.
Medicare will cover a nursing home stay for rehab purposes. So you’re in a nursing facility doing rehab. That means Medicare will pay for the rehab services and basically the room and board at the nursing home.
Depending on the supplement, it could be up to 100 days. If you don’t have a supplement or you don’t have a supplement that the nursing home takes, it could be for only 20 days, as long as you have a qualifying hospital stay, admitted for three days in the hospital and discharged for rehab in a nursing facility.
Medicaid is there for a long-term stay, and if the person doesn’t have the right supplement and you need the additional rehab days over the 21 days.
So that’s the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. If you have any more questions, you can continue to learn about long-term care planning on my Youtube Channel.