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My friend must be in assisted living but her money from social security and her retirement is not enough. She only gets $996.00 and the rent for the assisted living is $1145.00. Who can help her with the difference. Help please!

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$ 1,145 is pretty low AL cost - perchance is this a discounted amount? like is a low income program and that's why it's low and your friend meets the criteria for low income? If so, there should be some sort of waiver of the amount needed over her available $ 996.00 as a co-pay. Does your state do a Medicaid waiver for AL? - if so look into her getting a waiver. Just as an aside states are really trying to get away from the AL waiver and going instead to PACE programs, so you may find it hard to get a waiver or the waiting list is miles long.

The other possibility is to have her qualify for needing skilled nursing care in a NH. That would mean she applies for Medicaid.

Medicaid has 2 tracks for approval to show "at-need", financial & medical. At $ 996 a mo income she probably is OK for the financial part of the application. Now the medical is going to trickier as she has to show "need" for skilled nursing. I moved my mom from IL to NH and bypassed the whole AL part. I did have to work with mom's gerontologist - who was also the medical director of the NH I moved mom to. Basically she saw him every 4 - 6 weeks to build up the medical history to show the need for skilled nursing care. The appointment mom had a more than 10% weight loss, bad H&H lab work and a couple of other things, he wrote the order for SNF needed. Took about 6 mos of appointments to get there. Most NH admits come from a hospital stay (like they broke a hip) and then get admitted to rehab at the NH - they have a nice fat medical file and show the need to skilled nursing care & rehab - so after rehab ends they stay in the NH. But for those still out living in the community - whether at home or in IL - it's harder as they just flat do not have a medical file to show "need". Some things can be a simple change: like they go from Exelon pill to Exelon patch as the patch needs more "skill" to apply; or their medication is one that needs to be compounded daily and that too is "skilled" and they can't do it properly on their own but a NH can.

None of this is simple or easy; it's wonderful you are there for her. Keep a sense of humor going in all this too. Good luck.
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Only $1145/mo for AL rent is less than half the US natl avg $3600. Doesn't help you pay it, I know, but 99.99% of us reading your question would love to have your problem. Can we please switch places? Even for a couple months?
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Sell her house and use the proceeds to pay for Assisted Living.
If she is the widow of a wartime veteran, call the VA.
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Medicaid will pay for many living necessities. Time to get going on that application!
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She could apply for Medicaid in her state.
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