Many of us would love to live forever – but the truth is, we can’t. We’re all going to die someday, and we may have special medical needs near the end of our lives. If you’re confused by terms like “hospice care” and “palliative care,” that’s not surprising. Whether you’re planning for yourself or someone else, understanding the difference can help you make wise decisions.

A Quick Overview of Palliative Care

The National Institute on Aging explains both hospice and palliative care. Sometimes they’re used interchangeably, but they’re quite different in their goals. People living with chronic illnesses receive palliative care. These individuals already get treatment to cure or manage their conditions. Palliative care not only relieves their discomfort, but it can enhance their quality of life.

Palliative care may still be an option even if curative treatments are no longer helpful. In these cases, it focuses on reducing suffering. Diabetes Self-Management offers a great example of how this works. People receiving kidney dialysis may experience depression, cognitive impairment, and pain. Palliative care eases their discomfort by alleviating symptoms as much as possible.

Understanding Hospice Care

People who receive hospice care have illnesses that aren’t responding to treatment. End-stage cancers, advanced heart disease, and severe dementia are a few examples. With hospice care, the individual may have six months or less to live. Curative treatments have stopped, and the key focus is providing comfort care.

Hospice care can take place at home, in a medical facility, or in a dedicated hospice setting. A team of professionals approaches this care from different angles. Hospice teams usually include nurses and doctors. WebMD mentions that they can also include social workers, psychologists, or clergy. Death doulas, or “death midwives,” may also work in hospice teams. AARP reveals that they offer emotional support for both patients and their families.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule about what medical assistance each hospice client receives. Curative treatments will stop since they’re not beneficial. People with end-stage cancer, for instance, won’t undergo chemotherapy. However, they’ll get care for other conditions – high blood pressure, diabetes, and so forth.  

How Insurance Covers Your Care

Thinking about finances may be the last thing you want to do when a loved one’s severely ill. Yet it doesn’t hurt to have a general understanding of insurance coverage. Nearly all major insurers, along with both Medicare and Medicaid, cover hospice care. Coverage for palliative care isn’t as consistent. Insurers may pay for some medicines and treatments but not others. What’s more, each insurer has its own rules and standards. It’s a good idea to check your plan’s benefits for details.

Not everyone receiving palliative care needs hospice services. Yet most hospice patients get palliative care. That's why it's sometimes easy to confuse the two. Insurance companies can also make fine distinctions between them – paying for some services but not others. Either way, you may have some co-pays or other costs during these types of treatments.

Knowing Your Care Options

Insurance usually requires a six-month prognosis to approve hospice care. In other words, the doctor must judge that a patient has less than six months to live to qualify. But end-stage conditions don’t follow insurers’ rules. An illness may progress slower or faster than expected. Your doctor may offer additional guidance, especially if you believe hospice care is appropriate. People can live longer than their six-month prognoses. In those cases, Medicare requires their physicians to certify that they’re still close to death.

Facing serious illness or end of life is never easy. Navigating healthcare and insurance can be just as difficult. Understanding your care options can relieve anxiety, provide peace of mind, and help you make wise care decisions.