Accessing Long-Term Care Services, Essay Example

Introduction

Accessing long-term care services at the house has become the major barrier. Aging services are disjointed and complex to navigate. Long-term care for seniors and chronic disease patients can be affordable; however, most people do not plan for them well. Service providers are bias to institutional care to home care. Another harsh authenticity is that seniors encompass to deprive themselves in order to be entitled for the long-term care given by Medicaid (Pratt, 2009). To be Medicaid eligible, one cannot have extra two thousand dollars in assets and Medicare does not offer long-term care, which the majority does not realize. This service is one of a challenge the seniors encounter because either financial they cannot afford or services are restricted to locations (Volunteers of America, 2011).

There is a bias in the contemporary senior care system that gives special consideration to institutional care and forces many seniors to nursing centers prematurely. The existing Medicare system is a sharp care focused, so it does not efficiently provide for the managing of chronic care or anticipatory care. Under the present system, nursing home care is taken to be an entitlement, while support and care in the home is not. This is a miserable situation, but one that can be altered. Often, home care is more affordable than nursing care, but seniors are forced out of their residences and into a costly institution in order for their health care to be insured (Arrieta, 2011). Chronic disease patients also suffer this kind of predicament since home care has been overtaken with institutional care. Health care services have not put proper financial management in order to cater for the aging and chronic ill patients.

Care services and financial considerations are challenges that affect the seniors and chronic ill patients. Medicare and long term care services are biased and have become a challenge to seniors and patients.

References

Arrieta, M. (2011). Insuring continuity of care for chronic disease patients after a disaster: key preparedness elements, Center for Healthy Communities, University of South Alabama, Alabama, USA [email protected]

Pratt, J. R. (2009). Long-Term Care: Managing Across the Continuum, Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Volunteers of America (2011). The Future of Care for Older Americans, retrieved on 10th July 2011 from http://www.voa.org/Get-Help/Aging-with-Options/Future-of-Care