How do you pay for extras in the care of your elder?

My parents do not have medicaid, they have a medicare HMO. It covers medical, dental and vision. They even transport. The only downside is you have to use their doctors, but they have every speciality imaginable. Lately, they have included recreational activities like Thai Chi, cards, movies etc..

Oh, they also include a generous amount of prescriptions and a quarterly listing of vitamins to make selections from.

May be worth googling

I think that credit plans are difficult to come by in our situation when my 93-year-old mother is almost indigent and I am unemployed for most of the year. We own our condo jointly, but Mom is in a board-and-care and no longer able to help pay our association and maintenance bills, forcing me to cover them alone. Mom is forced to use up her funds because Social Security is not enough to cover her required 24-hour care. She probably will not return to our unit because she cannot any longer care for herself whether I am working or not. My other family lives out-of-state and unable to help locally, although they help pay for Mom's supplies and some food. I am only 57 and still need to work to support myself, but I lost my permanent job over one year ago and worked only one temporary job to date. We had paid off our mortgage, but I cannot even obtain an equity loan without stable income for myself.

For amplified or captioning phones go to CAPTEL. There are state and federal programs for hearing impaired individuals including seniors. The government has mandated programs so a hearing disability does not result in isolation. (Communication Disabilities Act?)

Glasses are free from the Lions Club. Hearing aids are not free, but check into your Area on Aging and see if they know of anyone who subsidizes this. Dentists can be discounted through dentalplans.com, but you play a yearly fee of about $159 - $179 depending on the plan you choose. The dentists in these plans offer a discounted fee for services. All the more reason everyone to save money for these expenses that no one but the wearer is going to pay for...

My uninsured "dental" Mom and I cannot afford her dental work either, and I am only 57 and unemployed besides.

I recently became aware of the dental school option and I think that's a wonderful idea. My aunt and uncle use the dental school. They said it takes a little longer but it's all supervised by a dentist who makes sure everything is being done correctly. I will definitely use a dental school the next time I go to the dentist.

A lot of dentists and other healthcare professionals have a credit plan available. Call and ask if you are eligible. Also, check your county health department to see when free clinics are available. See if there is a dental school nearby. They do work at greatly reduced prices. The dental hygienist school at our community college cleans teeth for free.

I was able to get reasonable dental, vision care for my brother in law at Humana. They were each under $20.00 a month.