I know I have gone over this over and over, and have read every article, called every organization and talked to hundreds of social workers but I want to be sure I am not missing something. I had to leave my job to care for my mom because no one was helping me at all. I tried to place her in adult day care but I did not care for the facility and at $75 a day or $1,500 a month, that only left her with $682. I could not work 40 hours a week and anything less than 40 hours was not worth me going to work after taxes and other withdraws from check. My question is does anyone know of anyway I can get some kind of income while caring for my mom in my home. We are both living off her monthly check so here it is near Christmas and I cant bu presents for my grandchildren, I can help my grandson in college or buy birthday presents for any of them. I cant have my Sunday dinners where I invite my 2 children and grandchildren over. I know you all know how expensive food is now and everything else. This may not mean much to most folks, but I miss some of my old life!
He can, thank God for that! We both get Social security but at low end of scale..I can not find any homecare that is provided by state we live in unless my mom is disabled or blind and needing help with bathing,feeding etc. I will be joining org. That is working on getting legislation for this serious proble which we all know is going to balloon when the millions of baby boomers start aging and caring for parents. We pay for services all our working lives but don't qualify...yet millions of immigrants who never pay into the system get everything for free....if I recall, "charity begins at home"! Gov. Has got it twisted...seriously!!! Disillusioned and stressed...not what I thought my life would be like after working since I was 14years old....Oh well will always try my best, it's not my mom's fault!
In order to GET CARE for your Dad, you yourself need to STOP CARE for your Dad. That is unfortunately the only way to have welfare kick in sooner, rather than later.
Likewise for your own life, you need to free yourself from the burden of worry over your Dad. Give him over to the care of the state & welfare.
Then get yourself over to your local unemployment office, pronto, and start the process of rebuilding your own life.
If YOU don't change things, nothing will ever change, time will just keeping flowing right by you, along with your own life.
As with so many of us, we are taking care of our parent(s) in our own homes. For those of us retired? Well, it's not exactly how we pictured our retirement, is it? For those of us working? Well, when do we sleep?
And Medicaid says our parent(s) can't pay us rent...can't help with utilities...can't pay us even a minimum amount for their care giving without a written contract drafted by an attorney, paying income tax on what could easily be considered a "thank-you gift," our parent(s) paying Social Security taxes on our behalf, and keeping a daily log of our duties. And THEN only a minimal amount.
As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the greatest injustices in our society today.
We are going to use our court date December 2, to request a hearing and hopefully possible trial, possible criminal damages.... I know I am new here, but I tell you, that it is a criminal act to pay for nursing homes and not pay caregivers, after all (like I said) I have a disability and 12 years ago I faced the possibility of going into a nursing home and WHAT take my reason for living away from me? You have got to be kidding...
People with disabilities have a right to live and die the way they want to even if it is in their own home or facsimile of one and caregivers should get paid, even if it is your parents or neighbor...
Some states (like MS) have it so that whatever is the homestead exemption is automatically excluded from MERP, so if the exemption is 75K and the house has an assessor value of 60K, MERP doesn't happen.
Another exemption is if the house is empty but still owned by the elder on Medicaid, then whomever pays for stuff on the house (like taxes, utilites, insurance, yard work, etc.) can let MERP know the amount and those $$ are deducted from the tally MERP has.
MERP is a legal process and has to go through the courts usually in probate court (I think it's this way in all states). Some states death laws have it so MERP is low on the payment system so MERP recovery is low. In TX, MERP is a class 7 claim so claims in category 1 - 6 that have to be paid off first, so MERP is low in TX. But still happens. WHile in other states, MERP places a lien on the property. Unfortuantely every state seems to put it's own spin on MERP as each state has it's own spin on death and estate laws. You really need to research what's what in your state, so that when the day comes you have an idea of what to do and within the time frame so that you can get the house transferred and titled to you or whomever in named in her will. Go buy yourself a nice little bottle of Prosecco, chill it a couple of days and read up on what your state's MERP program says and start your new year off with information for the future!