My mom does not qualify for Medicaid, nor are we financially loaded. Just a regular middle class family. I have looked into the cost of assisted living and nursing homes and I almost fell off my chair. The cheapest I have found for assisted living, which is probably the stage my mother is in now, but would then need memory care, is over three thousand dollars per month. OMG!
Are there other alternatives to assisted living like being in a group place or something else? I wish my mom could live with me but I just couldn't emotionally take it as she has moderate dementia and other personality issues.
Thanks!
If your loved one gets SOS, look at that as paying almost half of the home care bill. They are always private pay! You can send your parents there for the weekend to get them acclimated and not fearful which makes the transition smooth!!
The person who said the rich can pay and the poor get it for free, but the middle class pay for the poor needs to read up on the what the top 1 - 2% pay in taxes. Who is really paying the taxes in America and why they do not want change to that tax code. My brother in law and sister in law are CPAs, my daughter a tax attorney with the largest firm in Boston.
In this country the wealthy are paying less than ever. I am not liberal. I am moderate, I am also part of the 1%.
When looking to hire help you want to be cautious that you use a company that understands your needs and the needs of seniors. Look for one that background checks, credential checks, reference checks and DRUG test their employees, one that has people that supervises them, is bonded and insured.
Just hiring someone from a registry will leave you with a lot of extras on your shoulders--because you'll be responsible for their taxes, risk of liability if say they were to get hurt at your house or in an accident or if they hurt your mom, you'd have to do all the screening (and there are a lot of people out there looking to take advantage of people), you're their supervisor so if you have issues you'll have to deal with them directly which can be awkward and if they call out sick or don't show your suck trying to figure out something else where as with an agency they would handle all that for you. Oh yea and an agency will tell you what type of care they recommend after a thorough evaluation where as you'd have to know specifically what you want someone you're hiring independently to do.
Some home care agencies also have Care Professionals who have received specialized training in ALZ/Dementia. And some can offer you those emergency response systems for when no one can be there for her (you know the "i've fallen and can't get up" things).
This is what we did for my Grandmother because she refused to move in to a facility (and my mom was a single parent, and school teacher who made very little) We hired Interim Healthcare to send a Care Professional over for a few hours each day in the late morning to make sure she was up and dressed and they would stay until just after lunch to make sure she was eating, then in the afternoon my brother and I would go over to see her after school and my mom would go by pick her up and bring her over for dinner, then take her home at bedtime. So she was only alone for a few hours each day and then overnight while sleeping. She also had Dementia. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) she passed before the dementia got too bad, but luckily we had one of those emergency response systems cause just before she died she pushed the button, so the paramedics came out to find her & inform my mom, her instead of my little brother finding her (she died of cardiac arrest, shortly after the care professional had left for the day).
Good Luck with everything. Hope it works out for the best for you.
I really just don't care about all the meaningless stuff. Again, it amazes me that with all the people on this site and all the questions it really boils down to a few basic issues. Mine right now is why is it so difficult find solutions. I just want to do what best for my parents who, like karenp's worked hard, saved what they could and believed that it would be enough to see them through their lives. I know (or I think I know) that what you want, all any of us want is; to do the right thing, make the right choices and help those we love as they face the challenges ahead. I'm sorry that we got off track! You hang there too! We will no doubt cross paths again. I look forward to it!
;)
I worked with a young girl who came from a wealthy family, had every bell and whistle on her cell phone plan. Gave money to her boyfriend who was in prison. She was against a social healthcare plan because she would have to buy health insurance........so she will let me and all of the insured in this country cover her. Why would anyone support this?
The people who have been so nasty and called me a moron on here want answers about how to deal with a broken system. A for profit system. It will not change. And yes, every nickel you work and save will be gone. That is how it works. If that is OK with most, good. I am not one to say how people should spend their money.
New healthcare laws are trying to make hospitals accountable for the care Medicare patients are getting. Is it working, who knows. The hospitals have run understaffed for a long time. Not necessarily due to the lack of qualified nurses and doctors. Government intervention is usually a problem but there is alot of greed in the business world today. Don't to too quick to think "social" programs are all bad. Look at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. People love this. I just think it is a balance. A little of this and a little of that.
Also, not nice to point fingers. You know only a few paragraphs about me, yet claim I am a socialist. Wow, is that really supposed to be a bad thing? What do you think the root word of "socialism" is? It's "social" as in "caring, warmth, giving to others who are less fortunate than myself, not keeping all the candy for myself but giving some out to the hungry." If that is what socialism means (and it does), then yes, I am a socialist. Better than to be a capitalist and eat all of the candy myself while I watch others starve. Not cool.
Since you claim to know exactly what socialism is, I would be interested to know how many socialist countries you have lived in so far.
Many of the posts I have seen here have been centered around people not wanting to go broke while they care for their loved ones. Not a crime. But I guess in your mind, it just very well may be.
And thanks for calling my statements moronic. I guess it's easier for you to point fingers at others, rather than at yourself, isn't it??
Best wishes.
I was willing to let this go, and this may be my swan song on agingcare, but after reading your thread about what you can get away with not reporting for Medicare, you strike me as a person that wants to keep your inheritance and not have to give that inheritance up. I'd love that for my own life, but I love my mother more.
You and I haven't agreed about politics here, you're an avowed socialist.
Your statements that everyone is "equal" under socialism are moronic.
If this country had national health care, it would probably solve quite a lot of "OMG, how the heck do we pay X grand per month so granny can go into a nursing home?" The government NEVER has to worry about "getting theirs" i.e. taxes. We should never have to worry about "getting ours" i.e. insurance so we can stay alive so we can, uh, you know, pay more taxes! Or is that when they are old, they don't work and don't pay income taxes so they are no longer important???
Okay, windytown, I concur. My political switch is now off too. Sending good vibes your way too. But at least thanks for the diversion away from caregiving. It was a nice break!!