My Mother has been in assisted living for over a year. They have started charging extra fees for services. At first it was $2 to bring a meal to your room, unless you're sick, then $5. Now they're going to start charging $5 to bring a package to your room. My mother has a bad back and is incontinent. She can't lift things, that's what she needs assistance with. So her package of Depends costs $8 to go half way across the country, and $5 to go the extra few yards down the hall? This seems unreasonable to me.
Does your parents Assisted Living facility charge for "extras". If so how much?
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You may need several drinks
Medicare will only pay for short term stays in a nursing home for rehab purposes following a qualified 3 night stay hospitalization
If a person needs long term care and has exhausted all their financial resources then Medicaid may be available- each state has its own rules and it helps to have a professional navigate them but generally minimal funds in the bank - $2,000, a home and a car are allowed but the government will put a lien on the house to be repaid after death
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Hate to break it to you, but many NHs are as profit, if not more so, driven than AL. NH rooms are set up to be furnished with as little money outlay as possible, thereby increasing the profit margin for the NH
I have a suggestion…..(my mom entered IL & NH in her 90's) your mom’s 97, correct? If so perhaps think to get mom MD orders for “skilled nursing needed” so mom can admit into NH & not AL. Unless mom at 97 is the rare still totally walking unaided & very active with no chronic diseases nonagenarian WITH all sorts of $ (like 200K+), she is going to run out of $ in short order. Mom may get into AL but there are either going to be all sorts of add on’s to her AL menu of costs or she/you/Sissy get the dreaded “30 Day” letter. Letter is “we just love love LOVE your mom but she needs a higher level of care” and you have 30 days to move her & find a NH. Unless of course, this place has an affiliate NH and will have the AL/NH MD sign off for SNF orders.
RE: $$. Does mom have oodles of $? My experience is that IF they live long enough they run out of $, caregiver runs out of ability & family runs out of nice & ends up applying for Medicaid for them. Costs of care is huge (8K - 15K a mo NH). Flat outlive their $. This was it for my mom. She went into IL at "tiered" facility. Problem was as mom needed more care, medical director of AL/NH section would NOT budge on approving mom needing skilled, it was only going to be private payAL. Her old gerontologist - which she continued to see as she was in IL - did write the orders for "skilled" and I was able to get her placed into a NH Medicaid pending bypassing the whole AL phase.
What I found (& I'm pretty jaded on all this now) is that AL are the profit center for senior care and there is pressure to keep elders in AL (private pay) when they could be in a NH (and possibly be on Medicaid). Most AL do NOT participate in Medicaid or do so on a very narrow basis. Medicaid although a joint federal & state program is managed by each state uniquely. Medicaid for NH is "dedicated" funding so the states have to pay (if a facility participates & the elder meets skilled care criteria). BUT Medicaid for AL is done on a waiver program. Most states do NOT do AL waivers at all; others have it so that it is a very limited program which downstreams to an even more limited # of facilities that participate. Or only certain types of AL beds on Medicaid waivers. Like for TX, 2 types of AL beds: CCF = continuing custodial care, so no Medicaid & like 80% of all AL are these; or CBA - community based alternative care, which Medicaid will pay for but has few participating vendors and limited beds. This is why you often hear they need to be in AL for 2 years or so before they can get a Medicaid bed.
2 years your mom is 99.
Most NH admits come from a post hospitalization "rehab" orders. Rehab is a Medicare paid benefit, so they sequeway into a NH easily; find they need higher care so stay in the NH. But if your mom is coming from living in IL or at home, she may not have the fat medical chart to show at-need for "skilled" care. If so you will need to get creative
in getting her eligible for a NH. Not simple but can be done. Good luck to you & Sissy!
Also I would recommend that you go online to "Caring.com." These people have helped me in this matter so much and I can't say enough good about them. The service is free and worth every minute you talk with them. Very knowledgeable people. IF you get confused and frustrated with all this I suggest a small rum and coke. Good luck.
Good news where my Mom is the head nurse put a stop to it. She said that many of the residents were incapable of carrying large packages and she was worried about the liability if it caused someone to fall.
as yet i have not rseen charges against this account for deliveries of meals and packages.
If she did not go down and to the other building for lunch and had it delivered it was $ 5.oo. This rate was for IL and AL only. For mail and packages, they were left at the open pigeon style mail box area. If they needed to be delivered inside her apt or inside a room, it was $ 1.00 and if they needed to open mail or a package another $1.00 and my mom had to sign a release. Dealing with mail is considered a normal ADL so if they can't do it, then they can be asked to pay for the time for someone to do it. That makes sense for IL but is really pushing it for AL but what can you do? Now UPS would deliver boxes to her door of her 3rd floor apt. Maybe see if that can work for you.