Long-Term Care✓ Verified · outline & fact-checked · Sep 2026Difficulty 1/5
A senior asks whether Medicare will pay for a lengthy nursing home stay needed mainly for help with bathing and dressing. Which response is correct?
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Answer & full 3-part explanation (select an option above, or peek)
Why C is correct
Medicare is an acute-care program: Part A covers skilled nursing facility care only after a qualifying hospital stay and only for a limited benefit period, and it does not pay for custodial care — the personal help with bathing, dressing, and feeding that makes up most long-term care costs. This gap is the fundamental reason private long-term care insurance exists. The exam objective AH-V.1a frames long-term care insurance as filling exactly this hole in Medicare coverage.
Why the other options are wrong
- A) Medicare never pays unlimited custodial nursing home care; custodial care is a specific exclusion from Medicare.
- B) Age 65 does not unlock long-term care coverage under Medicare; eligibility rules do not depend on turning 65 for custodial care.
- D) Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care at home either; home health coverage is limited and skill-based.
Memory hook
Medicare pays for acute and skilled care, not the daily custodial care that drives long-term care costs.