I have a mom with moderate stage dementia who is in independent living with home health 6 hours a day. she is in spend-down and we are going through funds quickly. she needs more care and best would be memory care. She is not yet eligible for Medicaid and I cannot have her live with me. I have talked to state, county, and many facilities and have yet to find a place that will accept her due to financial limitations. Have not yet explored the 8 bed and fewer AL homes due to concern about quality of care she will receive. I am her primary caretaker / POA and burned out - still working as well. We are in DC metro area. thoughts?
i live in Wisconsin, the one year requirement was established by the facility, I believe… there was more selection of places that took Medicaid with 2 and 3 year self pay.. care patrol placed my in laws where there was no requirement for self pay…
We are flexible to relocation if it would behoove us and relatives. If it's an ALF policy difference, then relocation wouldn't make a difference. If it's a state Medicaid requirement difference, then does anyone know a convenient way to find out what state's don't have this requirement? Calling Medicaid offices in every different state would be onerous.
There has to be an easier way to find out what states don't require a term of private pay first. (a list?)
That's all we're looking for at present. I'm abroad on assignment. My wife and our parent's, uncle are home (U.S) and we'd like to start contemplating different locations if it would benefit us to move. Thank you.
you don’t pay them , they are paid by the facility with placement
Do you happen to know if the 1 yr your mom's memory care required was a Medicaid policy for your state or facility specific?
I placed my dad in one and I highly recommend them.
Obviously, as with ANY facility, advocating is crucial, as is moving her if your 1st choice isn't living up to its agreement and taking good care of mom. Make sure the contract is month to month and doesn't create a long term bill even if she moves or dies.
This is a difficult transition, so don't worry if you don't get it right the 1st time. Go put eyeballs on each facility, listen closely to the sales pitch and form questions from all the information you get. Ask as many questions as you need to feel comfortable, if the buck take there name outta the hat.
One thing to specifically ask, do they keep the residents through end of life and hospice. Not all, even huge facilities, allow hospice and it is a terrible time to be looking for a facility.
Best of luck. This is a tough time for all of you. May The Lord give you guidance, strength and wisdom for this time.
This is the issue we ran into with my mom. Our family was willing to cover the cost for two years but no facility would guarantee that after those two years they would take Medicaid no matter what, and since I would be the guarantor none of us wanted to be left with that bill.
So ideally the thing to do is to get her into a memory Care facility that accepts Medicaid NOW so that she will spend down funds making her eligible for Medicaid. Then apply at that time.