Medicare Not Meant To Cover Everything

GARY E. KAMPEL Delray Beach

I read reporter Diane C. Lade's story about health care services to seniors being curtailed. Again seniors are being told that they will have to pay for services they receive. This is unpleasant news but it is nothing new.

Medicare does a lot. All of us are thankful for that. But Medicare was never intended to cover all the bills. In a recent article Bentley Lipscomb, secretary of Florida's Department of Elder Affairs, said, "People should buy long term insurance."

Here are some facts:

Just less than 50 percent of all people on Medicare will need long term nursing care before they die. That means it's a coin toss whether a senior will need care.

Medicare will not pay for any long term custodial nursing care. It never has, and if you have been reading the newspapers, you know it probably never will. Most Medicare supplemental plans <including HMO's) will not pay for long term custodial nursing care. (Read their pages on exclusions and limitations.)

Here in Florida, this custodial care can cost a senior $7,000 to $35,000 per year. The average length of time that people will need this, care is 21years. Multiply it out. That's almost $90,000 out of your pocket. Most folks will go broke in less than six months after paying for long-term nursing care out of their own pockets.

My point is this: To those who believe our government will help, it won't. To those who believe their Medicare supplemental insurance or HMO's will help, they don't. To those who believe that your spouse will help, they can't (this is medical, not "tender loving" care). And to those who believe their kids will help, they have financial obligations, too. Is putting the burden on them what you want to do? Of course they'll help as they can, but we're speaking from the wallet here, not from the heart. Not to mention the emotional strain providing this kind of care can put on a family.

You don't wait until you smell the smoke before you get fire insurance. You don't wait until you get hit in your car to get automobile insurance. Everyone, from the highest executive offices in government through syndicated columnist and financial adviser Sylvia Porter, recommend that a senior protect him- or herself and cover this gap left by Medicare. "Doing does it," is what my grandmother used to say. "Just do it," is what the shoe commercial says. "Protect yourself," that's what I say.

GARY E. KAMPEL Delray Beach