Compensation

tchrtan10

I had to quit my job to take care of my DH who was diagnosed. Is there compensation I can apply for. I am on SS.
Also I am so glad to find this site! Sometimes I just need to vent!

Joe C.

This may depend on where you live. In Massachusetts there is a program where lower income families can get a family member qualified to be paid as a caregiver, I believe through Medicaid. I am really not sure of the requirements or income levels but this is worth looking into. Try googling “pay for family members as caregivers in ‘your state’” and see if anything comes up. If your community has an Elder Advocacy group they may be able to answer your question.

Ed1937

Welcome to the forum, but sorry you need it. I'm glad Joe mentioned that. In Indiana there is also pay for a family member who is a caregiver for someone. But not if you are a spouse. I am not sure what the limits are, but I don't think you need to be low income.

I'm glad you found our little family. You will get a lot of support here. If you have any questions at all, feel free to post about it. Just about anything is welcomed because we all need to be able to let off steam, and feel supported.

ButterflyWings

If you or DH is a veteran, there may be compensation for caregiving as well. Depends on the vet's level of service connection for their disability and their service dates (e.g. combat or war time especially) for Aid and Attendance. Although they (you) may qualify for 30 days per year of respite care, or a few hours per week of home health aide assistance even with 0% service connection with a dementia diagnosis -- apply for Catastrophic Disability status. In some cases, a spouse or other family member can be paid as the home health aide for those part time hours.

And I just found this from the National Council on Aging. Have not reviewed it yet.

https://www.ncoa.org/older-adults/benefits

And this:

https://seniorservicesofamerica.com/blog/what-are-the-available-benefits-for-seniors-over-65/

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Note: I just cancelled my early SSI retirement. After nearly a year, they began withholding it because my -part-time income went over a certain (very low) limit. I was told that if I earned over $19k, the gov't would keep 1/2 of every $1 I can earn, and I didn't feel I had a choice. We (I) can barely make the most urgent ends meet. But instead of reducing by 50 cents on the dollar, they suddenly withheld the entire monthly payment with no warning, as I apparently went over the amount allowed?

I don't know how that works, but it isn't sustainable for me for the rest of my life taking the reduced SSI amount anyway. It was so low that I still can't cover all our utilities, phone, each month without juggling as the mortgage obviously has to be paid. Hopefully that won't affect you, assuming you are at full retirement age. For me, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, without caregiving help for DH and not able to leave him so I can work full-time outside the home again. I hope to piece together full-time income from home in the immediate future! Meanwhile, still jumping at any benefits he is entitled to, as he is quite a bit older than I. Good luck to you!

[Deleted User]

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gampiano

OK, all that being said, our archaic government policies are contributing big time to hardship on middle class, working people.

This is why we have a large "under ground economy".

IT'S sickening.