What did you do to prepare for inevitable MC placement?
Hello everyone,
I'm working on getting my ducks in a row so to speak to prepare for my DH going into MC when/if it becomes necessary.
My question is this:
What did you do to prepare for your LO going into MC?
My DH is nowhere near ready for that level of care and I also hope to keep him at home as long as possible. With that said, I know I need to have Plan B ready just in case.
We can not afford to pay for it privately and currently only have straight Medicare with separate dental and vision coverage. We do not have any long term care ins either.
I also have not looked at any locations yet.
I understand my first step should probably be to see an elder care sttorney to protect our assets. Not that we have very much invested, but there is some and we also own our home outright.
I'm just curious as to what any of you have or are doing about this.
I'm not sure how I would go to visit MC locations either as my DH wants to go everywhere with me.
Thank you for your thoughts. I'm sure your insights will be helpful as always.
Comments
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I think you might want to visit a lawyer before you even start looking at facilities. In some states Medicaid will not cover mc but only a nursing home. In some states mc may be covered after a certain amount of time doing private pay. I was told the Al I chose for mom accepted medicaid only to find that family was expected to pay out of pocket for the portion of the bill that was not covered (this was pretty substantial). I found 100% Medicaid covered Al facilities where horrible and found a nursing home that was much nicer and cleaner. You might call a few facilities just to get a rough feel for cost, so you can crunch some numbers. How long could you afford mc out of pocket? Is it worth it if he would eventually need to be moved to a snf? How will Medicaid affect you? I will attach a Medicaid link. If you look through the link it will hopefully give you enough information to ask appropriate questions of a lawyer and not feel totally lost as they discuss the process of Medicaid qualifications and what is covered.
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Thankyou so much. I agree, Medicare/Medicaid are so complicated.
Great Ideas and thank you for mentioning the nursing home part.
Appreciate the link too.
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I’m in the same situation as you. I can’t afford to put my DW into MC so my plan is to keep her at out home as long as I can. She is now just entering stage 6. So far it’s been manageable. I do have some caregivers come to the house a couple of hours twice a week to give me a break. My DW has two sisters that help as much as they can but both work and have families. My DW is on Medi-Cal here in California. I’m hoping to keep her home until she gets into stage 7 and then if needed to find a SNF that accepts medi-cal. We do have some savings but I’ve got to think about stage 8 and my ability to afford it.
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I had already seen a lawyer and had the paperwork lined out. DW and I had powers of attorney for each other for many years, but I changed mine to be sure she didn't have my power of attorney if I were to need help.
When I started planning for placement, I placed DW in a half-day adult day care program and spent my afternoons visiting memory care facilities (and keeping my doctor appointments, grocery shopping, walking in the park etc.). I found one I liked, and it was the one a hospice social worker said she would use if she was placing a family member. They had vacancies when I needed them, so I went ahead with placement.
A lot of people report on this board that they have paid deposits and got on waiting lists. Each time there is a vacancy, the NH calls and asks if they're ready. They answer "no" and are kept on the waiting list - until the day they say "yes."
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Commonly Used Abbreviations
DH = Dear Husband
DW= Dear Wife, Darling Wife
LO = Loved One
ES = Early Stage
EO = Early Onset
FTD = Frontotemporal Dementia
VD = Vascular Dementia
MC = Memory Care
AL = Assisted Living
POA = Power of Attorney
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