Myth #4 - "My clients don't need a Long-Term Care Plan because they have Medicare, a Medicare Supplement, or Health Insurance"
Fact: Medicare and health insurance are designed to treat you, fix you, and discharge you, whereas Long-Term Care exists for when you don’t recover or you can't perform Activities of Daily Living.
Here’s the difference:
| Health Insurance / Medicare | Long-Term Care Plan |
|---|---|
| Pays for doctors, hospitals, and rehab | Pays for ongoing help with daily living |
| Goal: restore health or improve condition | Goal: support daily function when health won’t return |
| Short-term care — skilled, medical | Long-term custodial and support care — often non-medical |
| Cognitive decline, dementia care? Not covered | Covered under LTC planning strategies |
Why this matters: Long-term care services are needed when someone can’t perform activities of daily living (like bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, or mobility) — or when cognitive impairment (Alzheimer’s, dementia) makes independent living unsafe. These services are ongoing, not temporary.....custodial, not medical.....and not covered by Medicare or standard health insurance
The real issue isn’t who pays — it’s who plans.
Without a plan, the default is:
-
Self-funding from retirement assets
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Spousal or family caregiving
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Or eventually, Medicaid — after assets are spent down
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