I've been looking into assisted living options for my mother and wow are they expensive! There's no way she could pay for such a place, but people have told me about that sometimes it makes sense to go ahead and let the assisted living costs eat up the savings until qualifying for Medicaid. Has anyone on this site done this? What are the pros and cons? I long ago accepted that I'll never receive any inheritance from her and I'd be glad to see her money to go to her support. Right now she lives independently but has fallen many times and is having more and more trouble planning healthy meals and truly needs help - so far she refuses to allow in home help. Odds are she'd refuse to go to assisted living too. GAH! Anyway, my main question is about the spend down....what do you guys think?
When looking at assisted living facilities, be sure to question whether or not they will accept Medicaid. Many will simply not accept it, and some will require that she pay her own way for a specified amount of time before accepting Medicaid. The facility where my mother-in-law lives has a specified number of rooms that are eligible for Medicaid recipients, and one of those rooms must be available in order for her to remain there under Medicaid. She is currently in a private room, and Medicaid will require that she share a room with someone, so she will have to move to another room.
While your mom may not like the idea of assisted living, I think that she will have to accept the fact that she can no longer care for herself, and that she may be endangering her health and well-being by living alone. A little nudging may be in order from you and any other family members that can provide some moral support for you. Take her to visit a few different facilities and let her be a part of the decision making. Again, be sure to ask if they will accept Medicaid before making any commitments.
Igloo, yes my mother is still living in her home in her seventies. She is doing her ADL's, but with difficulty - she can walk with a walker but often uses just her cane instead but it's really not enough IMO anymore. She's deeply antisocial so I suspect the wonderful activities that AL offers would not interest her, but regular help with meds, cleaning, laundry keeping her place safe to navigate is much needed.
See All Answers