Caregiver Tip of the Month
— Assisted Living is not as expensive as you think —
Many seniors who need help with their activities of daily living will never have to go to nursing homes – if they can afford assisted living. Unfortunately, Medicare pays nothing for assisted living and Medicaid pays very little. Instead, virtually all expenses must be paid out-of-pocket by residents and/or their families.
The good news is that assisted living is not as expensive as it first seems. Instead, to an extent that varies from person to person, it is simply a shift of expenses from one living arrangement to another.
After someone's capabilities decline to the point where they need assistance, their move into a facility is usually permanent. When their former home is sold, most of the expenses associated with it can then be used to help pay facility-based expenses.
And, the money from the sale of their home can be used, for example, to purchase a CD or annuity that pays monthly interest. That increases their income, thereby adding to the money available to pay for their care in the assisted living facility.
Because a facility's fees usually include all meals, no groceries are needed; this frees up even more money. Many other expenses are also reduced or disappear entirely. To help you evaluate your loved one's financial situation ...
Our visitors ask ...
Q. My Mom will be moving into a facility and she will be paying all of the expenses from her retirement income. Do we need to inform the government to mail checks to her new address? How does the government knows where her check is going, and to whom? How do I pay her bills for her – with one of my checks? – or from her checking account? If I take her money out, and put it my checking account, and write one of my checks to facility, is that okay? How do I get advice on the legality of doing this?
A. Assuming your mother is still legally competent to handle her financial affairs (if she is not, go to answer 4 below) ...
1. Your mother's "government checks" (we presume you mean Social Security) should be deposited directly into her checking account. That helps prevent mail delays and potential thefts from mail boxes. If she hasn't already set it up, go into your bank and get the necessary forms. Then, Social Security won't have to be notified if she eventually moves into another facility.
2. You need to have your mother's Power of Attorney for financial affairs. This makes it easier for you to manage her finances. We also recommend that your mother add you to her checking account so that it becomes a joint account with right of survivorship. This will allow you to pay off her bills after she passes away without having to wait for settlement of her estate. It also makes it easier to handle her finances while she is living. Once again, talk to her bank to get the necessary forms.
3. We do not recommend that you transfer money from her account into yours to pay her bills. It is best that you keep your finances separate from your mother's. All of her bills should be paid out of her checking account.
4. For help in making the necessary financial and legal arrangements, we strongly recommend that you talk to an attorney who specializes in elder law. This is particularly important if your mother is no longer legally capable of handling her affairs. Check the yellow pages in your local telephone directory, or go to the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys' website. On their home page for the public, you'll find a link in the upper left corner (just below their logo) that will help you locate an elder law attorney.
Daily Living Solutions
— products for seniors —
As we grow older, it often becomes difficult to use many everyday products because of arthritis and other conditions. If you or a loved one needs a little help – or a lot – we've selected a group of practical and affordable solutions from our affiliated merchants to help overcome those limitations.
Whether you are looking for yourself, or to help an elderly senior continue living in their own home, you'll find a wide variety of supplies and accessories – raised toilet seats, safety rails, incontinence supplies, large-handle eating utensils, pain relief, diabetic supplies, pill splitters and crushers, big-button telephones, canes, walkers, rollators, wheelchairs – and much more.
Everything is sorted into convenient categories in our Solutions for Seniors section.
Caregiving – Finding the money for care at home
A variety of resources can help pay for care at home. We discussed these resources in some detail beginning with the May 2004 issue of this newsletter and continuing each month through the August issue. To review these newsletters, simply click on Archives and select the issue you want to see.
Caregiver Tip #2
We continue to be surprised by the number of emails we receive asking about what many people consider to be the "normal" aspects of aging. It is very important to realize that loss of sight, hearing loss, memory loss, confusion, incontinence and depression are NOT a normal part of aging. These conditions are usually treatable. They could even be the result of prescription drug interactions, side effects, or dosages that are not appropriate for the elderly (older people tend to metabolize medications more slowly; over time, that causes too much medication to build up in their bodies). Failure to identify these conditions as being treatable could place elderly patients at risk of unnecessary functional decline. For more information about the major health conditions that afflict the elderly, click on Symptoms.
Our visitors ask ...
Q. I was wondering if you could help me find a phone for my aging parents – my dad's always been deaf, but now my mom is very hard of hearing, even with new hearing aids. Both of them live at home but neither of them can hear their phone ring. Is there a company that offers a lighted phone of some kind?
A. We believe that you can find exactly what you are looking for at Hitec.com. In the middle of their home page, you'll find their ClearSounds 40XLC Amplified Phone with Caller ID. It also has a built-in strobe light. For more information about it, simply click on the phone's picture.
Recommended Reading and Videos
Many excellent books and videos can help guide you through the caregiving process. For our recommendations, including a brief description of each one, click here.
Caregiver Reminder
(very important topic - originally published in June 2004 issue)
What you need to know when your loved one
is a Medicare hospital patient
If you are looking for assisted living, home health care, skilled nursing or a nursing home, it's usually because of a medical crisis involving a loved one. You're probably in a time crunch – decisions have to be made quickly. The hospital may have said that your loved one will be discharged tomorrow. They've given you a list of rehab facilities, and it's up to you to pick one. But, how do you know which one is best? Are some better than others?
If you are in this situation – take a deep breath – relax a little – and read the next paragraph. You might make a better decision as a result.
Medicare has special rules to keep patients from being discharged from the hospital too soon. In spite of what the hospital may have said, your loved one cannot be discharged until 3 days after the hospital gives you a form called a Notice of Noncoverage. If they have not given you the Notice, insist that they do. (You won't get into trouble by insisting, and neither will your loved one.) This will give you additional time to find the rehab facility that's best for your loved one.
Hospitals discharge their Medicare patients quicker and sicker that ever before. In 1968, patients age 65 and older stayed in the hospital an average of 14.2 days. By 1982, that was down to 10.1 days. Now it only 6.4 days.
Why? Medicare is under constant pressure from Congress to cut expenses. Now, Medicare benefits pay a hospital the same fixed fee for each patient with a particular medical condition – even if one patient's condition is more severe than another's. If a patient stays too long, the hospital has to pay the extra costs out of its own pocket. But, the shorter a patient stays, the more money the hospital gets to keep.
How bad has the situation become? According to The Wall Street Journal, "Nearly one in five people admitted to hospitals with broken hips are discharged before all of their vital signs are stable ... . Those patients are far more likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital within two months."
To protect you, Medicare guarantees you certain rights if you think you are being asked to leave the hospital too soon. Unfortunately, these rights are given to you along with all the other papers a hospital makes you sign when you are admitted. So, they are usually lost in the shuffle, with most people never realizing how important they are. Hospitals sometimes take advantage of that fact. ...
... to read our complete article, click on Hospitals
For more helpful information from our website, click here. To see previous issues of this newsletter, click on Archives.
Aging Solutions is a free service of:
Solutions for Seniors, Inc.
1051 E HILLSDALE BLVD
FOSTER CITY, CA 94404
Your comments or suggestions for future issues are always welcome; email them to us at editor@aging-parents-and-elder-care.com
If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, simply click on unsubscribe. You'll be taken to your email program where all you need to do is click on SEND.
To change your email address, click on update email address. Once again, you will be taken to your email program. Please remember to send us your old email address as well as your new one.
Send this page to a friend ...
| 
