Consumer Reports Complete Guide to Health Services for Seniors : What Your Family Needs to Know about Finding and Financing Medicare, Assisted Living, Nursing Home, Adult Day Care with Ratings of Medic HMO's and Supplemental Policies

by LIEBERMAN, TRUDYCONSUMER REPORT

• ISBN13: 9780812931471
• ISBN10: 0812931475
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2000-12-01
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Summary

This reader-friendly book is divided into four main sections:

1) Paying for Health Care Services (among the five chapters included here two are Understanding Medicare and Insurance Options)

2) Finding Long-Term Care (among the seven chapters two are Assisted Living and Nursing Homes)

3) Paying for Long-Term Care (the two chapters are How Medicaid Pays for Long-Term Care and Insurance for Long-Term Care).

4) Finally, the book has twenty appendices, with charts and tables, bearing such headings as State Insurance Counseling Programs, Citizen Advocacy Groups, Long-Term Care Ombudsmen, Pharmaceutical Company Give-Away Programs, Ratings of Comprehensive Long-Term Insurance and Nursing Homes.

Although this is a book on a subject that people come to somewhat reluctantly, the voice of the book is actually very warm throughout with many engaging and instructive real-life anecdotes, drawn from the dozens of interviews that Trudy Lieberman and the editors of Consumer Reports have done with seniors and their family members. Many of the stories are about families

Author Biography

TRUDY LIEBERMAN, a journalist for more than thirty years, is director of the Center for Consumer Health Choices at Consumers Union, the parent organization of <i>Consumer Reports</i> magazine, and author of <i>How to Plan for a Secure Retirement</i> and <i>Slanting the Story: The Forces That Shape the News</i>. She is one of the country's leading investigative journalists today writing on health care issues, and she has received numerous awards, including two National Magazine awards and ten National Press Club awards.<br><br>Other books from the <i>Consumer Reports</i> library include the <i>Consumer Reports Money Book</i>, <i>Consumer Reports Guide to Baby Products</i>, and the <i>Consumer Reports New Car Buying Guide</i>. <br><br>For more information, visit www.ConsumerRe

Table of Contents

List of Worksheets and Tables	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Foreword	xiii
Introduction	xvii
PART 1: PAYING FOR HEALTH CARE SERVICES	1	(96)
When Your Loved One Needs Care---Starting the Process	3	(9)
Understanding Medicare	12	(16)
Covering the Gaps in Medicare	28	(20)
The Insurance Options	48	(21)
The Managed-Care Options	69	(28)
PART 2: FINDING LONG-TERM CARE	97	(158)
Entering the System	99	(22)
Care at Home	121	(23)
Care in the Community	144	(16)
Special Programs for Chronically Ill People	160	(17)
Assisted Living	177	(34)
Nursing Homes	211	(33)
Care at the End of Life	244	(11)
PART 3: PAYING FOR LONG-TERM CARE	255	(304)
How Medicaid Pays for Long-term Care	257	(13)
Insurance for Long-Term Care	270	(289)
APPENDICES
A. State Insurance Counseling Programs	301	(7)
B. State Units on Aging	308	(5)
C. State Pharmaceutical Assistance Programs	313	(11)
D. Pharmaceutical Company Assistance Programs	324	(39)
E. Ratings of Medicare-Supplement Insurance Policies	363	(32)
F. State Insurance Departments	395	(7)
G. Ratings of Medicare HMOs	402	(20)
H. Disease-Specific Organizations	422	(3)
I. Medicaid Waivered Services in the States	425	(13)
J. Medicaid Nonwaivered Services in the States	438	(8)
K. Older Americans Act Services in the States	446	(13)
L. State-Funded Programs by State	459	(13)
M. Nursing Home Watch List by State	472	(54)
N. State Survey Agencies	526	(7)
O. State Long-Term-Care Ombudsmen	533	(6)
P. Nursing Home Citizen Advocacy Groups	539	(5)
Q. State Hospice Agencies	544	(3)
R. Organ Donor Organizations	547	(1)
S. Ratings of Long-Term-Care Insurance Policies---Comprehensive Coverage	548	(7)
T. Ratings of Long-Term-Care Insurance Policies---Nursing Home Coverage Only	555	(4)
Index	559