Long-term care insurance policy benefits are usually paid directly to the insured person. This policy provision allows the insured person (or his/her legal representative) to make arrangements to have all or a portion of the benefits paid directly to the provider or providers of their care.

The federal program that provides hospital and medical care to people age 65 or older, and to some younger people who are very ill or disabled. Benefits for nursing home and short-term home health services are limited and are generally available only to people while they are recovering from an acute illness. Coverage is restricted to medical care, and does not include custodial care at home or in nursing homes.

Medicare benefits are provided in 4 parts - A, B, C and D. Part A helps pay for inpatient hospital care, some skilled nursing facilities, hospice care, and some home health care. Part A is premium-free for most people. Most beneficiaries do pay a monthly premium to be covered under Medicare Part B - the part that helps pay for doctors, outpatient hospital care, and some other care that Part A doesn't cover, such as physical and occupational therapy.

Part C allows various HMOs, PPOs and similar health care organizations to offer health insurance plans to Medicare beneficiaries. At a minimum, they must provide the same benefits that the Original Medicare Plan provides under Parts A and B. Part C organizations are also permitted to offer additional benefits such as dental and vision care. But, to control costs, Part C plans are allowed to limit a patient's choice of doctors, hospitals, etc., to just those who are members of their networks. This can be a major disadvantage if a patient's favorite doctor or hospital is not a member of their networks.

Medicare's Part D provides prescription drug benefits through various private insurance companies. For more information, including how to enroll, click on Medicare Prescription Drugs benefit. Like Part B, most people have to pay extra premiums each month to be covered for prescription drugs under Part D. Premiums for Part D vary from state-to-state, and from company-to-company. For more information, visit Medicare's website.

Most seniors are covered under the Original Medicare Plan. That plan requires them to pay for some of their health care in addition to their monthly Part B and Part D premiums. Those additional amounts are called deductibles and coinsurance. All premiums, deductibles and coinsurance amounts change every year on January 1st. Seniors can purchase other insurance policies to cover part or all of Medicare's deductibles and coinsurance amounts, or to cover many types of care that it doesn't cover.

Prepared ahead of time, a health care advance directive is a written document that says how you want medical decisions to be made if you lose the ability to make decisions for yourself. A health care advance directive may include a Living Will, a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or both.

For most people age 65 and older, a type of Medicare managed care plan where a group of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers agree to give health care to Medicare beneficiaries for a set amount of money from Medicare every month. In an HMO, you usually must get all of your care from the providers that are part of the plan; if you use providers that are outside your HMO plan, you will pay for their services out of your own pocket.

An insurance policy that helps pay for some long-term medical and non-medical care, like help with activities of daily living. Because Medicare generally does not pay for long-term care, this type of insurance policy may help pay for long-term care that you may need in the future. Some long-term care insurance policies offer potential tax benefits; these are called "Tax-Qualified Policies."

A state-licensed residential facility that provides a room, meals, help with activities of daily living, recreation, and general nursing care to people who are chronically ill or unable to take care of their daily living needs. It may also be called a Long Term Care Facility. If it has been certified as such by Medicare, it is also referred to as a Skilled Nursing Facility.

Skilled care that must be given or supervised by Registered Nurses. Examples of skilled nursing care are intravenous injections, tube feeding, and changing sterile dressings on a wound. Any service that could be safely done by an average non-medical person without the supervision of a Registered Nurse is not consider skilled care.