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Retired50 Posted June 2022

How many elderly women vs men apply for Medicaid Nursing Home Assistance?

It’s a sad day for women’s health care in American with the reversals of Roe vs Wade. This got me thinking about Medicaid and how families must hire attorneys at thousands of dollars so their family member can get health care at the end of life. Given that men out live women, are women second class citizens in America and being denied health care in the Medicaid system because of all the complications with Medicaid assistance? How many elder women can hire an attorney, and an honest one at that, given their declining health? How many women in the future will even have someone to advocate for their health as many couples decided not to have children? How many women apply for nursing home care vs men?


Our Medicaid system application needs to be simplified where elders should not have to hire attorneys. Is our Medicaid for elders so hard to achieve because most of the applications are from women and our America does not care? I hope this gets women thinking.

notgoodenough Jun 2022
And is there a significant difference between the application process, male vs. female applicants?

See, Retired, I agree with previous posters who say you are trying to stir the pot.

You were the one who used the term "second class citizens". Unless Florida's application process is vastly different between male applicants and female applicants, in which the female applicant has to provide all manner of documentation whereas the male applicant only has to sign the paperwork and is then guaranteed coverage, you can't say that female applicants are being treated as "second class citizens." And that has nothing to do with the percentage of female applicants to male applicants.

And while I don't personally agree with the Supreme Court's ruling on Roe v. Wade, I think by you trying to tie it to the Medicaid system as it relates to long term care for women is quite a tremendous stretch, and not fair at all. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

I think you're looking to argue your position on Roe v. Wade and are trying very hard to find some sort of common denominator that you can justify bringing it into this caregiver's forum. I think you're using inflammatory language like "second class citizens" regarding LTC care for female patients, trying to muster up some kind of "righteous" anger. I'm sure there are better forums for you to get into this discussion.

Retired50 Jun 2022
Not good enough. The point is the majority of applications I believe will be women who need nursing home care.

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notgoodenough Jun 2022
And male applicants have to jump through those same hoops as female applicants.

Retired50 Jun 2022
If a person has a monthly income over the Medicaid limit they will need to get an attorney (My state of Florida) to set up the proper trust to apply for Medicaid. Florida’s Medicaid application is 18 pages long. Not only do you have to fill out these 18 pages correctly you will also need to dig up 5 years of financial and asset history. That’s worse than applying for a mortgage which is a major headache. I’m my mother’s POA and there is no way I could provide 5 years of all their financial and asset history. Explanation of every check written over $500. Please no one don’t tell me that all you need to do is pull up their current bank records. My mother’s health care will be on the chopping block once her money runs out. The Medicaid program is designed to refuse people care. Elderly women’s care. If you are lucky to get approved than you have to hope there is a facility that will take Medicaid and has a bed open.
Attorney fees in my area start at $6000 to apply for Medicaid.

GardenArtist Jun 2022
"families must hire attorneys at thousands of dollars so their family member can get health care at the end of life. " I would flatly disagree with that statement.

First, families don't need to hire attorneys to get health care, except under certain circumstances, and/or unless they haven't reached retirement age. I would guess that employer paid health care has changed drastically during the pandemic, but at almost all the jobs I held, my employer paid for health insurance.

If a family doesn't have any working contributors, Medicaid would come into play. But also to be considered is how much schooling, experience and motive go into the family breadwinner's occupations? Granted, many jobs are low paying, and Medicaid could be involved.

I think your conclusions don't factor in the facts that many people can handle Medicaid applications on their own. You might read here of folks who have applied and waited for long periods of time, but at least they made the effort to apply.

If you think the Medicaid application system needs to be simplified, how would you propose to do so? What specific suggestions do you have? And what is your source for the conclusion "most of the applications are from women and our America does not care?" Specifically, where did you get the information as to women being the primary application creators, but more importantly, how did you conclude that "America does not care." Broad statements like that, w/o valid citations, are rhetoric and inflammatory.

W/o further explanations and citations, these is just your opinions.

I completely agree with Lealonnie's statement that:

"This seems to me like a post intended to generate acrimony on the site and has nothing to do with questions about 'elder caregiving'."

cwillie Jun 2022
Men outlive women?
Putting aside the obvious pot stirring that statement simply isn't true - according to a quick google search average life expectancy in US is 77 for men and 81 for women, world wide it is 70 for men and 75 for women. This shouldn't be news to anyone, look around at any seniors housing (nursing homes included) and women outnumber men by a large percentage.

notgoodenough Jun 2022
LOL igloo, and I thought it was just me! I've done a lot of government paperwork in my life, but by far FAFSA is the absolute worst!

igloo572 Jun 2022
Notgoodenough, omg FAFSA. I just shredded all that paperwork for ours who thankfully graduated Fall 19 (b4 Covid, he has friends who just graduated due to Covid campus delays). We also did the “Common Application”, omg that was quite the tome as well. I don’t think most folks realize how cumbersome FAFSA can be (esp if parents are unfriendly divorced or irregular income for tax filing) and this has led to students taking on private student loans which are way predatory imo.

notgoodenough Jun 2022
It's not as if every other government institution has simplified paperwork/processes and Medicaid is the only one that is complex.

Maybe Medicaid is so complicated to apply for because the person applying is, in essence, asking the taxpayer to take on the financial burden of their medical care.

I had to file with FAFSA for both of my college bound kids, even though I knew they wouldn't qualify for "free" money (not really free, someone - somewhere - is paying for it) - but their colleges required the FAFSA application to be filled out before the kids could get their merit scholarship money.

There's also a reason why I pay someone every year to file my taxes for me.

As far as women medically being treated like "second class citizens" - in my own experience, on the rarity that has happened to me, I found it was because of ONE INDIVIDUAL in the medical field, not because of "the system". I then chose to not return to that one individual. But as far as "the system", I have never been denied a procedure, coverage, treatment, etc. Maybe I've just been very lucky. But in many conversations with female friends, co-workers, associates, etc. no one has ever complained to me that they were denied some sort of medical care based solely on the fact that they are female. I've heard complaints about individuals in the medical field, I've heard complaints about various health insurance companies, etc. But I think that is to be expected when you deal with any bureaucracy, regardless of your sex.

Evamar Jun 2022
It gets me thinking definitely. There is certain shift in taking certain rights away. I am not in US but follow politics everywhere.
Women outlive men generally and in many marriages man are older, I think in Canada it is 84 vs 82 women to men life expectancy. And if historically women made less, the highest pension and old age security is about $1700 per month, plus they get survival benefits about $700 or less. Basic NH is about $ 3000, better one $7000+. Many will get non taxable cash from sale of house, most people are cash poor.
There is going to be lots of problems, as our system has waiting list for subsided housing or NH.
Everybody is aware but not much being done.

Christine44 Jun 2022
Very good answers Lealonnie 1. Yes, I too have been hearing about how certain states are expanding the availability of Medicaid, that is, they are "upping" the level of income you can have to get certain Medicaid benefits. If people are wondering about the FPL (Federal Poverty Levels) and where you fit in, they DO have tables with this information available. I can't direct you off hand to the URLs as I'm leaving for a concert shortly, but I do have these somewhere or other. It's good to know how to use these tables. If I can't find the url for the FPL tables (with percentages), they are available online, and if you have a good librarian they can probably help, also.

lealonnie1 Jun 2022
The decision for abortion has gone to the individual states now vs. the Federal government, which does not mean women can no longer have abortions. What the SCOTUS said was, they had no jurisdiction to decide the RvW case in the first place.

Women outlive men, you've got things reversed.

Did couples decide to have children so they would have health advocates in their old age?

Nobody 'has to hire an attorney' to apply for Medicaid. It can be done via an application process w/o the need for help from anyone. I have an application sitting here on my desk which I was planning to fill out on behalf of my mother, but she passed away before I had to do so.

As far as more women applying for Medicaid goes, " In 2019 adult women comprised 36% of the overall Medicaid population and the majority of adults on the program. Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), women were more likely to QUALIFY for Medicaid than men because of their lower incomes and because they were more likely to belong to one of Medicaid’s categories of eligibility for adults: pregnant, parent of a dependent child, senior, or person with a disability. 

~As of December 2021, 38 states and DC have opted to expand eligibility for Medicaid under the ACA, which allows nonelderly low-income women with incomes below 138% FPL to qualify regardless of their pregnancy, parenting or disability status."

So women are MORE likely to be APPROVED for Medicaid than men, so there goes your theory of 'women being second class citizens and being denied health care in the Medicaid system."

This seems to me like a post intended to generate acrimony on the site and has nothing to do with questions about 'elder caregiving'.

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