Posted on 01/12/2013 11:22:50 AM PST by LouAvul
Hypothetical.
Scenario: If a senior citizen becomes physically incapacitated, but reasonably mentally alert, and it is impractical for her to move in with family. Her sole support is social security at approximately $2000 month.
Are there any options in terms of assisted living? Other retirement facilities?
Also, what if she's not physically incapacitated, but simply is unable to live alone?
I'm sure many of you have addressed or, at least, investigated such events.
thank you
Might find someone willing to live with parent in exchange for room and board and small stipend. Would probably need to arrange for this person to have some time off once in awhile.
Look into Affordable Assisted Living in her area. Also Medicaid Home Health Care. Both are programs aimed at keeping people out of the nursing home.
Yes there are assisted living places for people who are getting old but still not incapacitated. I used to work with a really nice old guy and noticed he is now in one of those places.
He can come and go as he wants but they have facilities to assist them such as nursing care.
If a person is in that shape and has family it is probably best if they live with their kin. My Daughter and her family have their 88 year old Maternal Grandfather living with them. He doesn’t go out much at all but is not incapacitated.
I hated to put Mother in a nursing home but she could not get around at all, not with a walker and not able to get into a wheel chair on her own. We visited her daily but I could tell she hated being in that situation as her mind was still sharp.
Check the web for senior programs and support in her area.
Some my be government supported. Others may be private.
The best bet, lowest prices with best care, would be in one of the growing retirement and nursing home enclaves in northern Mexico.
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-15-mexnursinghome_N.htm
http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/0816nursinghomes0816.html
If she isn’t physically incapacitated but unable to live alone, assisted living is the way to go. It was running about $2500/month but included all meals (at least we knew she was getting balanced meals), laundry service, bathing, room cleaning, activities and the distribution of her medication. I think it was a little extra to have her hair done weekly but they did free manicures every week.
You’d have to check the ones in your area but the one we went with really wasn’t equipped to deal with someone physically incapacitated.
Does she own her own home? My son-in-law is struggling with this right now. His problem is that the family home is unsaleable in the present condition and the mother is uncooperative. To make matters worse, my son-in-law has a schizophrenic older brother, who has been taking responsibility for the mother, but threatening to kill her at the same time.
Does she own her own home? My son-in-law is struggling with this right now. His problem is that the family home is unsaleable in the present condition and the mother is uncooperative. To make matters worse, my son-in-law has a schizophrenic older brother, who has been taking responsibility for the mother, but threatening to kill her at the same time.
Try this scenario:
61 year old disabled woman (ambulatory, but doesn’t get around too well), she is single, a real bitch and family doesn’t want anything to do with her. Her brain is addled to many years of drug abuse. Her income is now anly a few hudred $/month. Her 20 year live-in boyfriend, who had a few thousand $ income finally died do to a drug overdose. She isn’t capable of managing her day to day life, even if she had money.
What happens to her now? Live under a bridge? Homeless shelters? Does she have any options?
Does your mother belong to a church? Methodist homes are excellent with different levels of care. Some even have cottages instead of the dormitory type rooms.
I’ve looked into senior care with the help of an attorney. It isn’t pretty.
First of all, medicare is of no help unless it’s short term and the person is expected to get better.
Private care unless the policy was bought decades ago will cost 6 to 8K a month, depending where you live.
State care (Medicaid) is available, but only after you have spent your resources down to nothing. That included your spouses resources as well if there is a spouse in the picture.
” Does she have any options?”
Yes, for her it’s simple. Apply for Medicaid and they will cover it. Medicaid is a problem only if there’s an estate.
There are a lot of nursing facilities that can help. Many are not just for Alzheimer’s folks. I would check out the local facilities. Ask local friends—you will pretty quickly which ones are good.
But bone up on your state Medicare rules. You are about to enter a complicated world.
bfl
Assisted living is terrific if you live in an area where it isn’t exorbitant. My 94 year old mother is at a Sunrise facility(MA) which can be found all over. The place is lovely, the staff is wonderful, the food is awful and it’s costing over $5,000 a month. The rate goes up every January and except for a reasonably nice room It’s not worth it. My late father-in-law was in a fabulous facility, in Georgia, for a third the cost.
That’s why many people use a family trust - you don’t have to ‘spend down’ assets. There’s a five year look-back for medicaid though, so prior planning is a necessity.
My mother in law was kicked out of a sunrise facility in MA!
As for my mom, I checked with these folks and found them eager and sincere with their advice a couple of years ago. . .A Place for Mom.
Unfortunately, circumstances changed, and I didn't use their placement assistance but they followed up in a professional manner which I found impressive.
Circumstances changed because mom was hospitalized for an injury from a fall, then transferred to rehab. It all happened very quickly.
Note: Once in the system, time is of the essence and your best option is to be prepared with your desired options picked out ahead of time because the hospital operates as a business at that point, turning over room availability ASAP.
In our circumstance, mom didn't want to make waves and accepted the hospital's choice of rehab placement against my wishes. Within 24 hours of transfer she was returned to the ER with a C-diff infection and almost died. The rehab ctr. the hospital discharged mom to had several red flags posted online, but I wasn't authorized to reject the placement. Get all your ducks in line and make sure you and mom are on the same page.
When searching options, keep an open mind, trust but verify - do multiple checks on any location you consider to determine what works for you and yours while time is on your side.
Beyond that, Lord only knows how ObamaCare is going to impact these decisions. Sigh.
I have a similar situation. So, I moved my mother in my house. She has 36,000 year income, but still trying to sell her home in Wisconsin one year later. When she had her daughters (my sisters) help her, they helped her alright - numerous credit card transactions to the tune of 16,000 of unsecured debt. Swear words cannot cover the crap that i have had to untangle. A year later I just got all th late payments and everything under control. Consolidation loan not possible ruined credit rating. Cannot get Medicaid for her yet. I get respite care services that comes out of her income. The oddity is my mother gave in excess of 2400.00 a month to her church 700 club and other christian organizations for so many years. savings wiped out and striving to9 get more debts paid out and paid down. Who knew taking care of a parent with severe arthritis and severe alzheimers would be a horror story. For 17 years I took care of my mother medical appointments and getting money into a savings, investments wiped out in 2008. For six months, I had to recuperate from 3 surgeries (complications arose requiring 2 additional surgeries)and during that time sisters ran up the account. Now I am the bad guy - nothing to church, nothing to charities and so forth. Being power of finances is a living hell when undoing garbage others did. Best thing I did was close the account in her state, new account established in other state she now lives in and able to get everything closer to manageable.The debts are now being reduced smaller ones paid first than the middle sized than the big ones last also look at the interest rate of cards. this is what kills he elderly credit cards.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.