Patient Trust Bond
Moving a loved one to an assisted living facility or nursing home is never an easy decision. The fact that most long-term care facilities are costly only adds to the stress of the situation. Making sure your loved one is properly and lovingly cared for is top priority, but it's also critical to make sure the assisted living center or nursing home appropriately handles finances that stem from this life change.
Thankfully nearly all localities and states require long-term care facilities to obtain patient trust bonds. These bonds ensure that the facility properly manages its patients' money. The bond also secures that the money, if received by the facility to pay a third party, makes it to the third party in an appropriate and timely manner.
Not Insurance
While it may seem that a patient trust bond is a type of insurance, this isn't actually the case. The company required to obtain the bond pays for the bond to be issued and, should there ever be a valid claim filed against the bond, can be required to pay the entire face value of that bond. This, of course, is vastly different from insurance, with which you pay the premium, and, in the event of a claim, the insurance company reimburses the wronged party.
Protection
Long-term care facilities buy patient trust bonds from companies that specialize in selling surety bonds that guarantee the facility conducts business in an ethical manner. Surety bonds can be found in a wide variety of settings, such as:
- construction jobs
- travel agencies
- janitorial services
- mortgage brokerage firms
- other industries that deal with the public.
Surety bonds protect the consumer against fraud or unethical behavior on behalf of the company who purchases the bond.
Since bonds are required of every single assisted living facility and nursing home, you can rest assured that your loved one's funds will be handled appropriately and ethically and, should there ever be a problem, you do have legal recourse available. However, it's always wise to check with potential facilities to ensure that they are complying with the law by being bonded. The peace of mind that comes with knowing your loved one is cared for is critical, and knowing that the finances are being handled appropriately can make the transition much easier for everyone.
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