Consumers still think Medicare does something that it does not actually do: Cover ongoing long-term care (LTC) costs.
A research arm of Bankers Life and Casualty Company has published new data on that misunderstanding in a report based on a Web-based survey of 1,299 U.S. residents ages 49 to 67. The survey participants had annual household income of $25,000 to $75,000.
Only 11 percent said they would expect their children to provide care or pay for care, but just 13 percent said they had private long-term care insurance (LTCI).
About 20 percent said they would depend on Medicaid — a program for the poor that does pay for nursing home care — to cover their LTC costs.