Hello I have a friend who dad is in nursing home he had dementia 24 ho Under Medicaid And she was told that her dad cant stay there anymore. care wandering And is doing good in the nursing home And now the nursing home Is going to release him Because she cant pay the extra income there added on When she put in The nursing home is was 1.600 And now they said they owe 2.000 What are the medicad laws And can they do that She is very upset Doesn't know what to do Thank you Carolyn
Let me give you a scenario:
My mother was in a local NH and I was in charge of paying her bills. They tried placing her with a few roommates, but none of them worked out. The first was yelling at mom all the time and very angry, which was depressing to Mom. The second was near death and non-communicative, and Mom was on the non-window side of the room, closed behind a curtain all day and couldn't even see sunlight - again, depression set in. Finally, I decided she needed a private room until a more suitable roommate became available. Mom was very happy in her private room, but the added expense was $450 a month that had to come out of my pocket, because her entire SS check was already going to the NH to pay her portion of the Medicaid agreed cost - the "patient pay" portion. Siblings would not help with the expense, and it quickly became more than I could handle. I set up a payment arrangement with the NH administrator and finance manager, and they worked with me. Unfortunately, "corporate", the owners of the NH, didn't see it that way. They assumed immediately that I was on the take and running off with Mom's money every month, even though I was making weekly payments on the balance to pay it and get ahead of the balance. "Corporate" wanted to attempt to take guardianship of my mother over this, believe it or not. The kind folks at the NH stepped up to bat for me and explained to the corporate jerks that I was not doing anything illegal or even remotely unethical with my mother's money - that out of 4 children, I was the only one paying the bill, and they needed to give me time to take care of it.
If I had not had someone in my corner at the NH level, Mom would have been taken from me and I would have been powerless to stop it. If I fought them on the guardianship thing, they were simply going to kick Mom out with a 30-day notice.
That's how fast these things can spin out of control.
Make sure your friend understands that Medicaid requires that the entire SS check be turned over to the NH for the patient pay portion of the bill, except for the small amount allowed for personal need. That's something that is absolutely non-negotiable and is grounds for eviction if not complied with.
I recently had a patient whose Medicare ran out; she refused to apply for Medicaid because "they take my whole check". She was given a 30 day eviction notice. She is now living in a shelter.
I don't understand what you mean by extra income. With Medcaid most all, except for a modest amount of the resident's income goes to the facility with the resident keeping a small some, usually under $100. per month. So , how would the resident be getting more income? I don't get it.