Tell about nursing home care and how to pay

[Anonymous]

thank you

[Anonymous]

Um, some details on the situation would help.

And what kind of research/reading have you done? Is the elder person a war vet? Qualify for medicaid/medicare? Need assistant verse nursing verse 24/7 care? Mental or physical?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, some details on the situation would help.

And what kind of research/reading have you done? Is the elder person a war vet? Qualify for medicaid/medicare? Need assistant verse nursing verse 24/7 care? Mental or physical?

24/7. Now it is physical and mental, will probably become more bedridden, and considered more mental, as mobility is limited from pain.

No assets. No war vet.
In preliminary stages, have done only preliminary reading, but continuing research now.

[Anonymous]

In my state (NY), a long-term resident can be covered by Medicaid (at facilities that accept it and have an open Medicaid-designated bed) if their total assets are less than $14k. If it's more, the patient is private pay until they get below that threshold, and then they can apply for Medicaid.

I think you should Google this for your state.

[Anonymous]

21:07 again. It also makes a difference (here, at least) if the patient goes into a rehab/ long-term facility as a rehab, because then if they are transferred to long-term care in the same facility, it's possible Medicare may cover some of that up to 100 days, as long as they are still receiving rehab services.

[Anonymous]

If there are no assets and he qualifies for nursing home care, Medicaid covers the cost of care. Also, there may be some VA benefits, but I really don't know about VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my state (NY), a long-term resident can be covered by Medicaid (at facilities that accept it and have an open Medicaid-designated bed) if their total assets are less than $14k. If it's more, the patient is private pay until they get below that threshold, and then they can apply for Medicaid.

I think you should Google this for your state.

Yes, I believe different states have different thresholds. Basically, the resident pays out of pocket until they reach a threshold, then they apply for Medicaid. It doesn't take very long to process and approve Medicaid, and it pays retroactively if necessary. The nursing home social worker can assist with the Medicaid application.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, helpful posters! This is obviously a stressful situation. I know there is at least one more (different) poster asking about this currently.

There is a sibling involved who is known for fleecing (to put it mildly) - sheer robbery, is more like it. So, we are trying to be careful about what the sibling tries to pin on us, which the sibling is KNOWN to try to do. Just a little bit of resentment on the siblings part, hence my position.

This is awful.

[Anonymous]

In Maryland, we just did this, you basically are only allowed under $2500 in cash/savings and there are rules that you can keep the house/car (but I think when you sell the house they ask for the money to be reimbursed). My MIL is in a medicaid bed. It was an absolute nightmare as you have to get into a nursing home and be in a bed in order to apply - either you private pay till assets run out and then apply (much easier even if you can only private pay a month but it runs about $10,000 a month) or find a nursing home that will take them medicaid pending which is near impossible (it took me about 9 months).

You have to declare and provide bank and other financial statements for the past five years. So, if your sibling is taking a significant amount of money (not a few thousand here or there), to get rid of the money, your parent could be refused. We had someone steal my MIL money where she was living prior and they did work with us (the woman claimed she never saw it but told us, so we disclosed and reported it to that state's social service, etc. who did nothing).

[Anonymous]

10:43 here. Here is some helpful information regarding "spending down" of assets and Medicaid eligibility from http://www.elderlawanswers.com/spending-down-assets-to-qualify-for-medicaid-12003:

In order to be eligible for Medicaid, applicants must have no more than $2,000 in "countable" assets (the dollar figure may be slightly more, depending on the state). Applicants for Medicaid and their spouses may protect savings by spending them on non-countable assets. The following are examples of such expenditures:

prepaying funeral expenses
paying off a mortgage
making repairs to a home
replacing an old automobile
updating home furnishings
paying for more care at home
buying a new home

In the case of married couples, it is often important that any spend-down steps be taken only after the unhealthy spouse moves to a nursing home if this would affect the community spouse's resource allowance.

[Anonymous]

Medicaid and nursing home medicaid are two different programs - you need to apply for the nursing home long term care program, not regular medicaid. Regular medicaid has a very low income threshold (my MIL got it in another state but was denied in MD) but it is different for long term care/nursing home.

[Anonymous]

OP here. This is GA, for those who might be familiar. I think the issue is the distinctions between the certain coverages. TIA.

[Anonymous]

Here is information on GA - similar but different. Contact your local social services office - may need aging and disability.

http://aging.dhs.georgia.gov/sites/aging.dhs.georgia.gov/files/related_files/document/ELAP-%20Medicaid%20LTC%202012_final-2.pdf

[Anonymous]

THANK YOU!