What is the difference between "skilled care", "intermediate care" and "custodial care"?

What is the difference between "skilled care", "intermediate care" and "custodial care"?

Elliot Matloff (President and Broker, The Matloff Company) gives expert video advice on: Do I need long-term care insurance?; When should I buy long-term care insurance?; How do I qualify for long-term care benefits? and more...

Skilled care, intermediate care, and custodial care are very important terms when we look at long term care insurance. Skilled care means that you are getting care by an RN. Certain types of conditions require an RN to take care of you. For example, let's say you have a significant case of diabetes or you have problems with your blood pressure needing to be monitored on a very regular basis. When you are at home or in a facility, you might need an RN to watch over you round the clock. In that case, the cost of that person is quite expensive. But some people don't have significant problems like that. They just are unable to get out of bed and they can't move too much, and they can use an LVN - a licensed vocational nurse, a lot less expensive professional and you can use that kind of a person if you have a long-term care policy. Or sometimes you can stay at home and you can hire just a person who is a custodial person, a person - a homemaking type of person that watches over you, is able lift you to the toilet, lift you to the bed, feed you. You don't really need a professional person like a nurse to do those types of things. So the policies say that you have a choice of using any of those types of people to take care of you if you ever suffer a long-term care illness.