Supplemental Plans — Short Term Care
Short-Term Care Insurance: Help Covering the Recovery Care Medicare Doesn’t
Medicare covers a lot, but it doesn’t cover the custodial care many people need after an illness, injury, or surgery. Short-term care insurance helps pay for that recovery period, often at a lower cost and with easier qualifying than traditional long-term care insurance. As an independent agency, we compare plans from multiple carriers to find one that fits your situation, at no cost to you.
Get My Free Short-Term Care ConsultationShort-term care basics
What Is a Short-Term Care Plan?
Short-term care insurance helps pay for care you may need for a limited period, typically up to a year, following an illness, injury, surgery, or general decline that makes daily living more difficult. This can include care at home, in an assisted living facility, or in a skilled nursing facility. It’s often described as a long-term care alternative because it provides a similar type of benefit, custodial and recovery care, over a shorter benefit period, which generally makes it more affordable and easier to qualify for than traditional long-term care insurance.
Short-term care plans create a buffer, which gives you options early on, especially for things like home care or easing into assisted living, instead of having to make big financial decisions right away.
This is general product education. Specific covered services, benefit periods, elimination periods, and eligibility requirements vary by plan and carrier. This page does not describe the details of any single policy.
What a Short-Term Care Plan May Help Cover
- In-home care, such as help with bathing, dressing, or meal preparation
- Assisted living facility costs
- Skilled nursing facility care beyond what Medicare covers
- Recovery-focused custodial care that isn’t tied to a hospital stay
Why It’s Often Called a Long-Term Care Alternative
- Shorter benefit periods (often up to 12 months) than traditional long-term care policies
- Typically, simpler health questions to qualify, which can matter if you weren’t able to qualify for long-term care coverage in the past
- Generally lower premiums than comparable long-term care insurance
If you’re approaching or on Medicare
The Coverage Gap Medicare Leaves Behind
One of the most common surprises people run into after a hospital stay is learning that Medicare’s coverage for skilled nursing and recovery care is limited, and that it does not cover ongoing custodial care, help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, or moving around, at all. This applies whether you have Original Medicare, a Medigap plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan, since custodial care falls outside what any of these are designed to cover.
A short-term care plan is designed to work alongside your Medicare coverage, not replace it. It doesn’t change your Medicare benefits. It fills in specifically where Medicare’s coverage stops, the recovery and custodial care that so often follows a serious health event later in life.
If you’re on Medicare Advantage
A short-term care benefit can help with recovery costs after a hospital stay that fall outside your plan’s covered benefits.
If you’re considering Medicare Advantage
Pairing it with a short-term care plan adds protection for the type of custodial care that no Medicare plan, Advantage or Original, is built to cover.
If you have Original Medicare and Medigap instead
A short-term care benefit fills a gap that Medigap doesn’t address, since Medigap is built around Medicare’s covered services, not custodial care.
Short-term care insurance is not a Medicare Advantage plan and is not a substitute for one. It does not replace or coordinate benefits with Medicare in the way Medigap does. Whether it makes sense alongside your specific Medicare coverage depends on your health, budget, and family circumstances.
Who this is for
Is a Short-Term Care Plan Right for You?
- You’re on, or considering, Medicare in any form — Since custodial recovery care falls outside what Medicare, Medigap, or Medicare Advantage covers
- You want protection without a long-term care policy’s cost or health requirements — Short-term care often has simpler underwriting and lower premiums
- You’re planning ahead for aging in place — In-home care benefits can help you stay in your own home longer
- You’re not yet Medicare-eligible — Under-65 individuals and families can also purchase short-term care coverage as part of their own planning
Why call Lifelong Insurance Agency
Understanding a Product Most People Don’t Know Exists
Short-term care insurance is far less well-known than Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage plans, which means most people don’t realize this gap exists until they, or a family member, are already living it. Comparing benefit periods, elimination periods, and covered services across carriers takes an agent who can explain how this product actually works.
Independent, not captive
We compare short-term care plans across multiple carriers, not just one.
No cost to you
Our guidance is always free, with no obligation to enroll.
We understand how it fits with your Medicare plan
We can explain exactly where Medicare’s coverage stops and where this product picks up.
A resource beyond enrollment
We remain available to you for as long as you have coverage.
Carriers we represent
Backed by Trusted, Well-Known Insurance Companies
Because we’re independent, we’re able to compare plans from multiple reputable carriers, including:
…and other regional and national carriers, depending on your state
Carrier availability varies by state and plan type. This is not a complete list of every company we represent.
What clients say
Real feedback from people we’ve helped
Ready to Close the Gap Medicare Leaves Behind?
Whether you’re already on Medicare or planning ahead, we’ll help you see whether a short-term care plan makes sense for your situation, with no cost or obligation.
Short-term care insurance is a supplemental policy and is not a substitute for comprehensive health insurance, Medicare coverage, or traditional long-term care insurance. Covered services, benefit periods, elimination periods, exclusions, and eligibility vary by plan and carrier and are described in the policy itself. This plan is not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.