Alzheimer’s disease has become a frighteningly common disease among people who have crossed the age of 65. Its treatment involves expenses such as daycare for the patient, bathing, dressing, and other daily activities, which becomes an expensive affair. There are several nursing homes for dementia patients, but many people also prefer to keep a caregiver at home instead of shifting the patient to a facility.

Insurance policies usually cover normal illnesses but families with dementia patients face a difficult situation while choosing the correct insurance policy because not all types of expenses involved in Alzheimer’s disease are always fully covered.

Therefore, if an insurance policy has to be taken specifically for Alzheimer’s disease, then the fine print needs to be read and understood well so that the policy actually serves its purpose when needed.

Things related to insurance coverage of Alzheimer’s disease

Let us understand a few things related to insurance policies that will adequately cover the expenses incurred in homes for Alzheimer’s patients.

Custodial care

The biggest issue with such insurance policies is that they usually do not completely cover the prohibitive costs associated with custodial care. They only cover the medical, surgical (if any), and diagnostic expenses. The alternative is to go for home care, but the registered and licensed caregivers should provide that, otherwise the complete coverage would not be provided by the policy.

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Long-term care

If the doctor certifies that the patient is impaired cognitively and needs continuous care, then some policies do provide long-term care coverage, but that needs to be checked in advance before signing up for the policy.

Round-the-clock care

The cost coverage of the caregiver also depends on the number of hours the caregiver stays with the patient. Usually, the cost for a certain number of hours in a day is covered, subject to the daily limit of the coverage. Very rarely would a policy provide the coverage for round the clock caregiver expenses. The requirement of care for dementia patients needs to be examined in the light of, which eight hour or 12 hour period in the day is most vital for the patient, and the caregiver should be employed accordingly.

Adjusting daily limit

Let us assume that you have employed a caregiver for memory care facilities for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. If the daily coverage limit of the policy is $200, a day for three years, then most insurers will allow you to claim the benefit for six years, if you are able to keep the daily expenses up to $100.

Protection of assets

In case your coverage comes from state or central government-run policies, then they make sure that you first monetize your assets and use all your money before their coverage kicks in. The limits per person or per couple would differ from state to state, but the rule of thumb states that the federal coverage begins only if your total assets are worth less than $2,000.

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