Wellabe Logo

          This product is underwritten by Medico® Insurance Company, a Wellabe company.

Short-term Care insurance

When one health care situation leads to in-home or nursing facility assistance, it can quickly deplete your savings. Short-term Care insurance not only helps you maintain an active lifestyle and stay in your home, but it also makes sure your retirement is well protected. You can do more, worry less, and make every day better.

man with boot scooter
agent on zoom call

Speak to an agent

calculator

Request a quote

clipboard

Read frequently asked questions

computer

Log into customer portal

man holding cell phone

Access mobile app


Extended care costs add up

Wellabe’s Short-term Care insurance1 plan helps you protect your finances from an unexpected situation in the future if you need extended care. 

  • Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of long-term care services and support in their remaining years.
  • On average, 42% of people need less than 1 year of at-home paid care and 37% of people need less than 1 year of any skilled care in facilities.
  • An average American turning 65 years old today will likely incur $120,900 in future extended care costs, measured in today's dollars.
  • Families will pay more than one-third (37%) of those costs out of pocket, with the rest covered by public programs and private insurance.
  • The estimated national average costs in 2023 are:
    • $7,698 per month for a private room in a nursing home 
    • $3,628 per month for care in an assisted living facility (one-bedroom unit)
    • $44 per hour for a RN, $31 per hour for a LPN, $20.50 per hour for a health aide
    • $20 per hour for homemaking services

Short-term Care insurance fills gaps

Medicare Parts A and B cover some home health services and inpatient skilled nursing facility care costs, but they don’t cover extended care. Part A copays and the Part B deductible usually apply, which could mean steep out-of-pocket costs. Short-term Care insurance can help cover these gaps. 

Short-term Care insurance can also help if you’re unable to qualify for or afford Long-term Care insurance. Short-term Care insurance has fewer restrictions for qualification and types of care it covers. It’s commonly less expensive than Long-term Care insurance costs, and it provides benefit payments sooner. Considering many individuals with Long-term Care insurance only need care for less than one year, Short-term Care insurance just makes sense.

How it works

Short-term Care insurance offers coverage for extended care in your home or in a facility. It covers both medical and non-medical help. You select a daily benefit amount up to $300 per day for up to 360 days of home health care.2 Your plan pays you a full cash benefit for each day you receive care. If you fully recover from the condition requiring care and do not receive care for 180 consecutive days, your benefits will restore one time.3

If you’re between the ages of 40 and 89, you can apply for Short-term Care insurance. Your health can positively affect your premium and coverage — the better your health, the better the coverage.

Assistance when you need it

Wellabe’s Short-term Care insurance plan also offers benefits that make sure you’re well prepared and well protected when you do need care. 

  • The Household Improvement benefit provides you $500 for home modifications that help you remain at home, such as installing ramps, widening doorways or hallways, modifying a bathroom, and more. 
  • The Care Coordination benefit provides you $500 to help set up a care plan when the need arises.

Optional add-ons

You can choose from optional benefits for an additional cost:4

  • The Nursing Facility Care rider allows you to elect a daily benefit up to $500 per day for up to 360 additional days of care in a facility.2 The rider also includes a 21-day bed reservation benefit that pays the daily amount to hold a care facility room during a hospital stay. You can also choose the Nursing Facility Care Rider with Inflation Protection.5
  • The Inflation Protection Benefit rider allows you to add inflation protection to the base Home Health Care Benefit. The Inflation Protection Benefit increases the daily benefit amount by 5% of the original daily benefit on each policy anniversary.
  • The Adult Day Care rider pays $50 per visit for up to 20 visits to an adult day care setting.2
  • The Return of Premium rider allows a portion of the premium to be returned if the policy is terminated.6

Valuable discounts

Couples who apply together, save together. Spouses or any two people in the same household who are over 40 years old are eligible for a 7% discount. You can double your discount to 14% if both apply and are issued a Wellabe Short-term Care insurance policy. And if you also apply for or already have a Medicare Supplement policy with any Wellabe company, you’re eligible for the 5% multiple Wellabe policy discount.7


FAQ

Just as a car or home needs more tune-ups and part replacements as it gets older, the human body often requires more TLC as it ages. This and the rising costs of health care are why advance care planning should be as much a part of your retirement planning as a 401k or IRA. But it can be difficult to gauge how much to save for retirement, especially when you’re estimating things like in-home care services.

Short-Term Care insurance can help you prepare without all the guesswork. It can protect your savings and help you stay independent in your home longer in the event of an unexpected illness or injury where you might need extended care — both medical and non-medical — in your home or in a facility. Your plan pays you a daily benefit for each day you receive care for up to 360 days, no matter what service is received.

Medicare typically doesn’t cover long-term custodial care in a nursing home or assisted living facility, Long-Term Care insurance is a supplemental policy that can help pay for these costs should the need arise. However, Long-Term Care insurance policies generally have at least a 90-day elimination period, which is the set length of time between when an illness or injury starts and when the benefit payments kick in. In other words, policyholders have to wait 90 days before receiving benefit payments.

Short-Term Care insurance can offer temporary medical coverage when a patient is within the Long-Term Care insurance elimination period. It may also help cover the cost of in-home health care services before long-term care services are needed. Short-Term Care insurance plans have lower premiums and are often easier to apply and qualify for than Long-Term Care insurance plans.

While retirement planning, it’s easy to overlook retirement health insurance needs and costs. Most people’s average retirement savings don’t factor in things like how much home health care costs because care planning can become an afterthought. 

Short-Term Care insurance is a type of supplemental insurance that can help pay for future extended care needs if they arise. It can fill in coverage gaps if you suffer an injury or illness or if you’re in a waiting period before Long-Term Care insurance begins. 

While it’s not a replacement for Medicare or a general health insurance policy, it might be worth considering when you’re advance care planning, not only to protect your loved ones’ finances but also to maintain your independence as you stay in your home as long as possible.

Short-term major medical insurance is often mistakenly confused with Short-Term Care insurance. But as you look closely at these two types of health insurance, you can see they are quite different. 

Short-term major medical insurance, sometimes called short-term insurance or short-term limited duration insurance, is designed to provide temporary coverage for medical expenses when comprehensive health insurance is otherwise unavailable. Such scenarios might include losing a job, changing employers, retiring before Medicare begins, or missing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) open enrollment period. 

Short-Term Care insurance provides up to 360 days of coverage for certain types of medical, and sometimes non-medical, care, such as home health care services. Short-Term Care insurance may help you cover medical expenses that may not be covered by Medicare or other supplemental insurance plans.

When you become a Wellabe policyholder, you’ll have access to resources that make it easy to make the most of your plan, including our mobile app, customer portal, and Customer Success team via email or phone. Visit the Customer Resources page to learn more.

You can access the claim form in our customer portal and submit it by mail, fax, or through our mobile app. Once your claim is submitted, you can check its claim status in our mobile app or Wellabe’s customer portal. Visit the Customer Resources page to register for an account.

Request a free quote

Call 800-608-5433 or click the button below to have an agent contact you to develop a personalized free quote for any of our insurance plans.

Related articles


          50-01-00129 US

08-23