Florida Senior Long Term Care Insurance Information & Resources

Florida Department of Elder Affairs (DOEA)

The Florida department of aging provides great long term care resources for seniors and caregivers including access to the most current educational materials and information about senior health and wellness, long term care, community based care, senior projects and publications. The department serves to help seniors citizens in Florida keep their self-sufficiency and self-determination.
The programs maintained by the department includes:

• Alzheimer's assistance and support service
• housing programs
• assisted living facilities
• adult day care programs
• senior employment programs
• veterans' affairs



• Florida Family Caregiver Resources
  Find Florida programs for family caregiver support and resources. Includes Florida Caregiver Respite Programs, adult meal and food programs, Alzheimer's help online, and other services to help caregivers caring for an elder.
  
  
• Serving Health Insurance Need of Florida Seniors (SHINE):
  The Serving Health Insurance Need of Seniors (SHINE) program provides elders and caregivers with information and unbiased health insurance counseling, including: Florida Medicare, Florida Medicaid, Medigap coverage, Medicare Discount Drug Card and other Florida prescription drug assistance, and Florida “Silver Saver Program” . Understand your rights and options concerning Medicare and other health insurance issues.



• Long Term Care Community Diversion Program
  The program provides community-based services to people who would qualify for Medicaid nursing home placement. Services provided include long-term care services, and Medicaid-covered medical services. The objective is to provide frail elders with safe, appropriate community-based care alternatives in lieu of nursing home placement at a cost less than Medicaid nursing home care.
  
  
• Florida Long Term Care Ombudsman
  An ombudsman will investigate complaints and resolve complaints related to board and care of residents in Florida long-term care facilities: Florida's nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult home care, and other long term care facilities.The ombudsman acts as a mediator between family members, facility staff and residents.

Report senior abuse, neglect, exploitation to the Florida Senior Abuse Hotline: 1 - 800 - 96ABUSE (1-800-962-2873)

Florida Association of Area Agencies on Aging

Area Agency on Aging for Miami Dade and Monroe Counties
9500 S. Dadeland Blvd., Suite 400
Miami, Fl 33156
305-670-6500

Mid-Florida Area Agency on Aging for Gainesville
5700 S.W. 34th St., Suite 222
Gainesville, Fl 32608
352-378-6649 or 1-800-262-2243
(Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, Lake, Levy Marion, Putnam, Sumter, Suwannee and Union Counties)

Some programs run by Florida Area Agencies on Aging include:

• Congregate and Home Delivered Meals
• Senior Center Activities and Adult Day Care
• Case Management
• Transportation
• Homemaker and Personal Care
• Legal Assistance
• Minor Home Repair
• Alzheimer's Respite
• Information and Referral
  

Available in both English and Spanish, the Florida AARP website has the latest news about nursing home legislation, where to receive tax aid and other announcements affecting Florida seniors. Seniors may also download the most recent AARP Florida's newsletters, meet other Florida AARP members online, read the latest on Medicare Prescription Drug Legislations, and find an Florida AARP chapter near you. The AARP in Florida also has many other senior programs available.

An especially useful site for seniors who are often the victims of fraud, scams and crime. The Florida Attorney General Office provides the most current consumer fraud warnings, consumer protection tips, crime prevention tip, crime victims' services, civil rights education and a phone number to the fraud hotline.

The site also has articles on consumer rights and answers frequently asked questions such as where to go for legal assistance, what to do if your identity has been stolen, child support questions, where to go for disputes with your insurance company, and much more consumer questions.

The Florida insurance department works to ensures that insurance companies in Florida are licensed to do business in in the state and are financially viable and operate legally according to Florida insurance laws. Consumer can use the online database to lookup insurance companies and obtain answers to general insurance questions. The Florida department of insurance also provides consumer alerts, fraud and scam alerts.

A helpful site for consumers buying any type of insurance in the State of Florida, it provides consumer guides for the different types of insurance, including a Long Term Care and Other Options for Seniors Consumers' Guide. The Long Term Care guide goes into detail about who may need long term care, what is long term care insurance, facts to consider when choosing a policy, long term care insurance comparison shopping examples, an example of a long term care policy, your rights and responsibilities, consumer tips and more.

Consumers may also find Medicare Supplement Consumer's Guide, Life Insurance & Annuities Consumers' Guide, HMO Consumers' Guide, Health Insurance Consumers' Guide, Auto Insurance Consumer's Guide and more.

The Florida Department of Health provides a collection of articles pertaining to public health, tobacco issues, health statistics, and licenses/permit information. Florida residents may also find more information on the programs provided by the department including health benefits for unisured children, neonatal care for mothers, reducing chronic diseases, access to dental care, domestic violence prevention, and providing emergency services in cases of natural disasters and outbreaks.

Florida Long Term Care NEWS