A family member has dementia. The dementia is bad enough that he can't be taken care of at home or at a typical nursing facility however, it's not bad enough to be put in one of those full blown memory care units. He currently is in a memorably care center that's pretty nice. It runs about $9000 per day. Thank goodness for long term care insurance.

That said, he fell the other day and now needs around the clock attention..at least until he recovers from a brain hemorrhage and a broken shoulder. he walks a lot and doesn't sit still.

The problem is that this additional care costs an additional $575 per day. I don't have that kind of money - I doubt few do. That said, there are countless home health companies. Who is paying for these? Obviously someone is.

Does anyone have any suggestions on financial assistance? He is a veteran and has Medicare and tricare.

Tia

My mother passed away about a year ago from COPD, but she suffered with Alzheimers' for the almost 10 years prior to her death. She too did not need a memory care facility but it was unsafe for her to live on her own. She had issues taking her meds, did some scary stuff, etc. Luckily we were able to get her into an assisted living place that was really good. We paid about $5500 per month.

This is my understanding how government assistance works for long term care. First off, you have find a place that is willing to take medicaid or medicare. It is my experience that these places are hell holes. Second you must prove the individual cannot afford to pay for themselves. The government will liquidate all of that person's assets to pay for long term care. Once the liquidation is complete, then medicare or medicaid will take over payments.

This may not be the standard practice anymore, but this is the way I remember it was explained to us.

For what it is worth, I remember medicare takeing care of all the expenses for something like the first 30 days. We were able to have a home health nurse come in and help out while we looked for a long term solution.

Also - if you ever wondered why the government and insurance companies love Hospice, it is because it is cheaper to help people die than it is to help them live.

Edit: I had said $9000 per day. Lol, I meant per month.

Some long term care insurances cover in-home care as well. I worked for a non-medical in home care place in BCS who does exactly this. I will also say when it comes to that, you get what you pay for.. don't ever ever go to the cheapest one.

This is pretty spot on. I work in a town with a small nursing home. People ask me how it is. I say it's what you get when a facility is happy to take medicare, medicaid and social security as full payment.

And hospice is great for a lot of people. Some of the most expensive medications and treatments are done at the end of life and don't always help. Sometimes it's better to take 1/10 of that money to pay for nurses, aides and doctors to make the rest of your life as happy and livable as possible

location?