Choosing from America's Best Nursing Homes

Annually, the US News Health rates, ranks, and recognizes the best nursing homes around the country.  This is based on the inspection and ratings by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  These facilities need to pass qualifications on health inspections, nurse staffing, and quality of care in order to receive high marks and make it to the honor roll.


For those considering nursing homes for their long term care setting, you can be more confident and have a peace of mind if you select a nursing home from this list.  This is because only the top facilities with excellent ratings and topnotch services are included in this so you can be sure that you can make a good choice for your premium health care.


Connecticut looks like a promising location for long term care, as four nursing homes from the state made it in the 2011 honor list.  Here is the complete list: Best Nursing Homes US News Honor Roll


Start planning for tomorrow's care, get long term care quotes as early as today.  Decide in which part of the country would you like to stay to receive your specialized extended care and begin gathering information on long term care costs by state.

Do You Really Need Long Term Care

Long term care (LTC) services can really be costly.  That is why, you have to ask yourself first if you really need this type of insurance.  Here are some ways to assess your needs.

Looking at Medical and Personal Needs

LTC services are comprised of both medical and custodial care.  This specialized care is actually designed to cater to patients who were inflicted with a chronic disease, disabling condition or serious injury and accident, thus giving them difficulty in performing activities of daily living (ADLs).  Included in these ADL's are bathing, feeding, clothing, transporting, etc.

Given these special conditions, family members must analyze if these needs can be covered by a long term care insurance. Can an LTC policy help them in paying for care?

The next thing to ask is where can the patient's needs be best provided.  In here, families will choose the care setting where they will take in their loved ones.  Again, be sure to assess if a nursing home, an assisted living facility, or home care will best work for the extended care.  The daily or monthly rates of these care providers can really be costly so be sure to choose one that you can really afford.

Moreover, there are other resources that can assess your patient's needs such as his physician or a care specialist.  As for other matters concerning LTC insurance, you can seek advice from lawyers or financial advisers, as an addition to what agents can tell  you.  If you are interested in getting long term care insurance quotes, most insurance companies have websites that give free quotes online.