How to Pay for Assisted Living Costs?



Many people who are in need of assisted living, nursing home care, or in-home care, put off looking for care for fear of how they will pay for it. Assisted living care costs can be expensive, but like most things in life, you can usually find less expensive options if you are willing to spend the time looking.

 The total cost of assisted living care depends on the level of care needed, and the quality of the assisted living facility. There may be resources you can find to help you pay for the costs. The resources available depend on the income and assets of the person in need. Your first option is to pay out of pocket. Let's start there so you can get an estimate of the cost of care.

 Pay out of pocket
If you or your loved one needs in-home care, expect to pay about $19 - $30 per hour for someone to come to you and provide assistance. Rates will vary depending on the level of care needed, and the time of day you need assistance.
Assisted living facilities are available in a wide range of prices. Assisted living costs can vary from $1,500 a month to in excess of $10,000 a month depending on the level of care needed, location, and amenities offered. Start by setting a list of criteria you'll use to search for quality care facilities. That list should include the amount you are able to pay each month.
Costs can vary tremendously from place to place. As you start your search see if financial assistance is available through the resources listed below.
Check the Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Program
Check eligibility for the Veteran’s Aid & Attendance Pension, a program which can provide financial help to those who require assistance with activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing and undressing or taking care of the needs of nature.
It can pay up to $1,830 per month to a veteran, $1,176 per month to a surviving spouse, or $2,170 per month to a couple for veterans and surviving spouses (as of 2017). Certain income and asset limits also apply.
This program allows you to keep more assets than most state aid programs, and it provides a higher level of assistance. You cannot receive benefits from both the Veterans program and a state aid program, so you may want to evaluate both to determine which provides the highest level of assistance for you or your loved one.
Check with your state’s medicaid office
Find your state Medicaid office and check on their available resources. To qualify for Medicaid you'll need to have assets and income that are below the federal poverty levels.
Many state programs offer assistance with assisted living costs for those who have no financial resources. Qualifying for such assistance usually means you have less than $2,000 in assets, although exact program requirements can vary from state-to-state.
Check other state aid programs at benefits.gov
Check other state aid programs outside of Medicaid. Such programs may supply food, shelter, medicine or other benefits.
Ask for family support
One home health company has created a free personalized way to stay in touch with those who need in-home care or assisted living through a feature they call CareTogether. It functions like a customized form of Facebook designed just for a senior who needs care, allowing the family to stay updated on what their needs may be.
You could use a feature like this, or a Facebook page, to explain your or your loved one’s needs to extended family and then ask family members if they would be willing to contribute a small monthly amount to provide in-home or assisted living care for this family member. If you want to know more about the private health insurance pa then please send your queries by dropping a comment below.

Comments

  1. chip programSeptember 26, 2019 at 2:06 AM

    Many state programs offer assistance with assisted living costs for those who have no financial resources. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Value-Based Care and Behavioral Health Treatment

Image
For value-based care to provide truly holistic, coordinated care to patients, it must incorporate behavioral health treatment. This can result in improving the quality of health care for your employees, especially those with chronic medical conditions. Despite the benefits of integrating behavioral health treatment into value-based care, physical and behavioral medicine too often remain siloed in our health care systems — even under value-based care arrangements. The Need for Inclusive Treatment Comprehensive primary care has begun to seek ways to integrate behavioral health treatment to improve outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Behavioral health conditions frequently co-occur with chronic diseases, but these symptoms may be overlooked. Depression symptoms, for example, may be masked by other medical conditions. Patients with diabetes often receive mental health education along with diabetes education, since anxiety and depression are frequently associated with this...
Read more

Ways to Maximize Medicare Benefits

Image
Medicare is vital to the health of nearly 60 million Americans. Yet many of its benefits are overlooked, underused or misunderstood. Consider the annual "wellness" visit, during which a doctor will assess your health risks, take your blood pressure and other routine measurements, check for cognitive impairment, and offer personalized health advice. It's free. Yet less than 11% of Medicare beneficiaries took advantage of the benefit in 2012, according to the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice. Recent research suggests that number hasn't budged much since then. That's not the only Medicare benefit left lying on the examining table. Many healthy seniors pass up a host of free preventive services, ranging from bone mass measurement to cancer screening–"the kinds of things that people don't generally think of if they're not sick," says Bonnie Burns, a consultant at California Health Advocates. Other benefits, such as...
Read more

The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Image
If your children need health coverage, they may be eligible for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CHIP provides low-cost health coverage to children in families that earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid. In some states, CHIP covers pregnant women. Each state offers CHIP coverage, and works closely with its state Medicaid program. See if your children qualify and apply for CHIP Each state program has its own rules about who qualifies for CHIP. You can apply right now, any time of year, and find out if you qualify. If you apply for Medicaid coverage to your state agency, you’ll also find out if your children qualify for CHIP. If they qualify, you won't have to buy an insurance plan to cover them. How to apply for CHIP: Fill out an application through the Health Insurance Marketplace. If it looks like anyone in your household qualifies for Medicaid or CHIP, we’ll send your information to your state agency. They’ll contact you about enrollment. ...
Read more