Older Seniors Confused About Medicare Nursing Home Benefits
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Results of a new survey show older U.S. residents are confused about Medicare coverage for nursing home care.
Thirty-nine percent of U.S. residents over age 65 still think that Medicare or Medicare supplement insurance might cover long nursing home stays, and 24% are confident that it does, according to Wegge Strategic Research, De Pere, Wis.
Women are more likely to say that Medicare might cover long-term institutional care than men, and survey participants over age 85 are more likely to hold that belief than the younger participants are.
Wegge researchers found that 75% of participants over age 85 said Medicare did cover long-term institutional care or might cover it.
Confusion about Medicare nursing home benefits among older women and U.S. residents over age 85 "is of particular concern, because these are the very groups who are the most likely to require these services in the future," Wegge researchers note in a summary of their results.
But, even among participants between the ages of 65 and 79, only 40% knew that Medicare puts tight limits on coverage of skilled nursing home care.
