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Audy Asked January 2010

Will Medicare or Medicaid pay me to take care of my elderly parents for a certain number of hours each week?

my mother is blind and does not want stranger in her home.

EXPERT Carol Bradley Bursack, CDSGF Oct 2011
Medicare isn't likely to pay you, but you need to check with them because every state has slightly different criteria. There are waivers under certain circumstance. Medicaid, on the other hand, would perhaps pay you for some hours. That is insurance for people who fall below a low income level.
So, two things that you need to consider are where you live and if Medicaid is involved. I'd contact Medicare at www.medicare.gov or call the local office. This takes time, but it's the only way to know if this specific case will qualify.
Good luck,
Carol

ackeltner Feb 2011
Will Medicare pay me to take care of my elderly father at his home. He has 4th stage prostate cancer & a serious case of dimentia.

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195Austin Jan 2010
You would need to check with someone locally probably a social service dept. in your county to check their rules it is worth looking into or maybe call your department of health and find out who provides medicare and medicaide aides for people in their homes-usually elders do not want strangers in their home and it took me a while to feel comfortable having aides come into my home but soon I got use to it and did not feel like I had to have the house perfect for them.

jkelley Mar 2011
my father is unable to take care of himself

care4sure Aug 2012
As the previous posters have mentioned, you need to call Medicare to discuss your options. This requires a tremendous amount of patience and persistence. This is what I've found out regarding our care giving situations.

In my state, there are several training programs for caregivers which upon completion can get paid for taking care of their family members. We discovered this after reviewing the long term care insurance policy for some of our family members.

After speaking with various organizations, medicare and medicaid officials, we learned about the following options.

Cash and counseling program for medicaid may allow certain qualifying family members to get paid for care giving.
We discovered several additional programs for low income caregivers. The definition of low income caregivers vary by state. In our state, it was about $9,800 ( several years back ). I have no idea how they come up with these numbers but it can vary depending on your county, neighborhood, and state. The programs are the Personal Care Attendant and the Adult Foster Care Program which maybe able to pay family members.

We received the best information by visiting our local offices on aging and social services. The most difficult part of the process was piecing together the puzzle of options because each department and person you speak with gave different answers.

caroletta Dec 2011
i live in nc and my mother has late stage alzimers she recives medicare i am her caregiver and hospice gives me 3hrs a week ive had to cut my hours at work barly getting enough for the gas and only getting payed bi weekly is there a way i can get paid for being a full time caregiver for my mom

dkbrashears Feb 2012
I have been taking care of my mother who is disabled has alzhiemers/dementia can I get paid for this since it is a 24hr a day job?she cannot be left alone.I live in Az.can you help

lauramcc66 Apr 2015
My mother is 84 and is not able to be left alone. She is 100% deaf and has little use of her hands due to trigger fingers on both hands. She can barely walk due to arthritis in her left hip. I help her 24/7 as she can not be left alone. Please help with any info that you can provide me with as far as compensation.

freqflyer Apr 2015
Iauramcc66, majority of grown children are not paid for caring for their parent, unless the parent can pay them from their own pocket.

Otherwise, check with your State Medicaid office to see what programs they might have to help out, meaning they might be able to send over a caregiver to help you out for a few hours each week.

Also, check with your local agency on aging, to see what local programs are available, such as Meals on Wheels, adult day care, etc.

Trinity3 Apr 2015
There's a program called Public Partnership that may work for you (and others who are caregiving).

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