how to pay for long term care/MC

Ashgab

Hello,

My father has unspecified dementia-has never been officially diagnosed. Like others, he refused to go to an MD in fear of being "locked up" in a nursing home. Now he's in the hospital- which brings up future plans of LTC or MC when the time comes. However, my mother has no Medicaid, no long term care insurance, and is not able to private pay. If we bring him home and hire a CNA from a company, they are 25$ on average here in south florida.

Has anyone faced this, and how do people pay for these facilities without the resources?

Thanks

terei

IME the way it usually works is that the family pays for an initial period of time at NH or MC at a facility that will accept Medicaid after their funds are depleted.    Sometimes the facility will help the family apply for Medicaid.

Medicaid is different in every state.    

harshedbuzz

Your mom needs to see an elder law attorney about Medicaid planning if they have any assets and/or pensions coming in. Medicaid is different in each state and this is the best way to find out how things work where they live. 

Wild-West

Sadly, we were in this situation. We'd planned to have her spend down to qualify for Medicaid. While that was happening I toured facilities like crazy. In the end I couldn't find a place where I could stand to leave her, so we brought her home. We figured we'd do that for 3 - 6 months while we prayed/hoped for a Plan B. We finally decided to sell a property that would enable us to cover MC for about 2 yrs. But what if she lives longer? Arggh! I hate this disease! So at this point we figure if we keep her home and use that money for in-home care it will go a lot further than in a MC facility. These are such difficult and deeply personal decisions. The only common theme is that none of it is easy, and there's never a simple solution. Wishing you the best as you navigate this journey that none of us want to be traveling.