<p>“On the long term care ins. idea…mom tried to get that years ago, but has had health issues (mostly diabetes) for many years so that option wasn’t really available to her.”</p>
<p>Once you’re past the age of 60, long term health care rapidly increases with age. If you’re a diabetic, it is more expensive and goes up dramatically if you’re a diabetic on insulin as opposed to pills.</p>
<p>It depends on whether someone needs 24/7 care or not. Unless there is always someone to cover any gaps, getting coverage for someone is very difficult and expensive. $15 per hour 24/7 is over $130 K a year. If you can get away with half coverage, that 's a bit better, but that means you gotta leave gaps and someone at home has to be willing to step in. At a nursing home, you get the guaranteed coverage.</p>
<p>Something up thread got me thinking. Last summer, my mom and I put my name on her main savings account, just to make things easier in case she preceded my dad in death (he was having health issues at the time). Only two names can be on it at a time. If she goes first, I’d add my dad’s name so that the money would be his. Are there problems with that that I’m not foreseeing?</p>
<p>There is a difference(in my state) when a second name is added on an account depending whether the 2 are linked by an “and” or an “or”.
You might look into that, Youdon’tsay.</p>
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<p>My mom is in the 24/7 care category. I found a way to cover that with no gaps. I hired two caregivers, each one covers two full 24/7 alternately so that each one of them will have two full days off for each two full days on the job. That worked out very well. We hire legal immigrants that are willing to learn, they may not have the language skill, but they can communicate with mom and that is important. The salary is below 50K for two. However, we are responsible for providing a room and food to the caregivers.</p>
<p>I am not sure how big is op’s mom’s house, if that is a 3 or 4 beds it is conceivable to house mom and the caregivers as they may share a room.</p>
<p>artlover, are you saying that they work 48 hours straight and then have 48 hours off? Are they able to sleep while your mom sleeps? How do they hear when you mother wakes up? How long have you had this schedule/present caregivers? It sounds like a great set-up.</p>
<p>I agree with cptofthehouse that round-the-clock care can get quite expensive.</p>
<p>artloversplus, very interesting scenario. Do these caregivers provide skilled nursing care?</p>
<p>toledo,</p>
<p>yes they “work” 48 hours and rest for 48 hours, but they really don’t have to work while mom is sleeping, she sleeps at night and takes a nap from about 1pm to 4pm, the caregivers can rest during those periods of time, we have wireless baby monitors all over the place and if mom needs some thing she just have to yell and that will wake the caregivers up. They, of cause, have to be alert when they are on duty. Even when mom is awake, they can watch TV, read books or do whatever, there is little to do only when mom needs some thing or eating. Food prep and cleaning are their chores though.</p>
<p>I was fortunate to hire off a nurse(that is licensed) from a nursing home, she got paid less from me, but much less stress by work for me. The other caregiver we trained her, they are all experienced caregivers. A nurse in the nursing home is responsible for around 16 “patients” and that is a VERY stressful job, even though they only work 8 hours. When she works for me, she would have only mom to take care of and the needs from one is much less than 16. In the nursing home, a nurse is normally responsible for drug dispensing, one little mistake could cause big damage to a patient and you have 16 to worry about. Yes, you have to do some thing that a nursing aid has to do, but with only one to take care of, the job is MUCH easier. And who gets 15 holidays per MONTH and get paid?</p>
<p>oh, btw, this arrangement has been in place for two years and we have two happy campers. prior to that we had one caregivers work for the day and one at night, that arrangement still has gaps that I have to fill.</p>
<p>I still have my duties with mom, I have to take her to the doctors and other appointments, order medications, pay bills and buy supplies. Since mom’s home is near a lot of doctors and a hospital, the caregivers can easily wheelchair her to some of the appointments. I only have to take mom to certain appointments that requires a handy-cap Van.</p>
<p>I’m impressed!</p>
<p>We have considered the idea of a nurse at home. Mom was home with my aunt and supplemental help for quite a while but mom was definitely not happy. She really needs to have social interaction and likes to be where there is activity. As her physical condition worsened it made it more and more difficult to take her anywhere. Even the dr’s office became an issue, so being in a facility that has a visiting dr., Or one on staff is important. She used to be able to go, with help, to the senior center during the day, and as she was unable to do that we found a nursing home that had just day care, but it really wasn’t a good fit, and didn’t help with nighttime issues. She has also had a few falls, luckily without injury, but it takes 2-3 people to get her up again. Last time she fell while still at the house, my aunt and sister both tried to help her back up but ended up having to call rescue, which ended up with an unnecessary trip to the hospital.</p>
<p>See, everyone has a different problem and one solution does not fits all.
My mom has Parkinson’s and has entered dementia state. She just needs help for everything, include feeding, but social interaction, she is incapable to have social interaction in her current state.</p>
<p>To OP re nursing home, see an attorney. </p>
<p>My MIL who was in fairly bad shape with alzheimer’s and other problems was able to stay in her own home with help. I have seen healthier persons than her in a nursing home. It was more comfortable for her at home. I just read your last post about problems with home stay for your mom. We did have many of the problems you note, but at least mom weighed almost nothing, so she could be lifted when she fell, which she did. She would have hated a home, and in her case it would have seemed cruel to send her, even if the care theoretically would have been “better”.</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I am not sure what condition your mom is in, but as anothermom2 there are other alternatives to the nursing home. </p>
<p>Depending on patient’s condition, Medicare provides hours for in-home care. It is most probably going to be your responsibility to find someone, because the pay is not that great. As another poster mentioned, your best bet is to find (legal) immigrants. This is what we did. The person helping my grandmother does not speak English, but she is hard-working and takes care of my grandmother when we are at work.</p>
<p>Depending on the condition of the patient, the hours maybe limited. My grandmother gets only 26 hours per week. But, we as a family, take turns taking care of her when the caregiver is not around. My grandmother would have hated to be placed in the nursing home.</p>
<p>When you apply for Medicaid, there is a “look back” rule. They want to see all the financial information for about 5 years before the date of application and any money moved from those accounts not falling into a “protected class” are considered usable assets. If a savings account was changed to a daughter’s name, it goes back. ANy checks written are scrutinized for the purpose. So what one essentially has to do is a a “King Lear” and take all of the assets out of the parent’s name, leaving no more than $30K, I believe and wait 5 years. Other wise everything is under careful audit. Medicaid was and is not intended for those who can possibly afford. Y’all think FAFSA and PROFILE are bad, wait till you try to get an elderly parent approved for Medicaid.</p>
<p>My mom’s condition actually improved when she moved into a nursing home because of the social interactions she had. She certainly wasn’t isolated before and got out or had visitors frequently but that all day contacts with people made a huge difference.</p>
<p>Medicare has VERY limited in-home care and usually only after a qualified hospital stay in most areas. Fortunately they are figuring out that it is less expensive to provide in-home care vs putting someone in a nursing home and that program is slowly expanding.</p>
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<p>I forgot to mention, my grandmother lives in a building for seniors only. They have bunch of activities during the day and she knows many people there. She also goes to adult day care one day of week (which reduced her at home care hours).</p>
<p>Also, my grandmother specifically said that she does not want to go to nursing home. She asked us to try take care of her, which we promised we will, even though she required 24/7 care couple of months last year (she is better now). At this point, she only needs help with cooking, cleaning, medication reminding and a little bit with the grooming.</p>
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<p>Not in my state (MN), we think the hours are very generous.</p>
<p>Our state, NY, gives nada, unless one qualifies for Medicaid, or is recovering from some injury or ailment, in which case Medicare will cover some of this. We have used the Medicare provisions quite a bit. Right now she does not qualify. One tumble and my MIL will.</p>
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<p>We tried for over 3 years to get my MIL compensation from the VA. It’s called aid and attendance. My H had to resubmit paperwork to the VA over and over again. After about 2 years, they did tell us that she was qualified to receive extra money each month. But then they dragged their feet for another year and she did not receive a single penny from them. By that time, she had died. Anyone else have any problems getting aid and attendance benefits from the VA?</p>
<p>VA is a tough one. Wheels turn very slowly there and even getting someone who knows what the entitlements are is tough.</p>
<p>I can imagine how difficult Medicaid approval would be with a 5 year look back. That’s why it’s important to get a lawyer handle it so, that you have a date you have taken every and anything the person owns and have it set up that way. Then there is no going through ones records for basically a 5 year audit. You start the Medicaid process 5 years before you need it is what one has to do if an asset overage is involved.</p>