My Mom has now been admitted to an Alzheimer's unit. Prior to that I was providing care to keep her in her house and then my house as long as possible. I applied for Medicaid and there is some money I need to spend. Can I receive a reimbursement for providing care and mileage?
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Carol
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By Alice Dembner, Globe Staff | July 8, 2005
Massachusetts has begun paying family members to house and care for their frail older relatives in an effort to keep them out of nursing homes and save the state money.
The program pays $1,500 a month to caregivers to make it more feasible for family members to provide round-the-clock care to a senior who needs extensive help with everyday tasks, such as eating, bathing, dressing, and using the toilet. It has enrolled 21 seniors since beginning on a trial basis in March, and will expand this fall to as many as 80 low-income seniors or disabled people, funded by $2 million in the state budget signed into law last week.
The state's goal is to provide the housing and home care that seniors want while reducing admissions to expensive nursing homes. The state expects to spend $1.6 billion for nursing home care this year.
''It's offering people a more compassionate level of care provided by people they know they're comfortable with . . . at a cost about half that of a nursing home," said Representative Barbara L'Italien, an Andover Democrat who pressed for inclusion of the money in the budget. She and other officials expect the program will be expanded to serve many more in future years. Advocates say as many as 8,000 people could be eligible, depending on the criteria ultimately set by the state.
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Sure wish we had this in Florida.
People who have given up their livelihoods to care for an aging relative are saving the government(s) big bucks. Anyone know how $1500 per month compares to the cost to Medicaid for a nursing home?
When you are googling this stuff you get 1000 false leads for every hit, but I remembered something about Vermont, so I just check it out.
They have a "Choices for Care" program that pays family member (or other) caregivers $10 per hour. That might work out to even more than the $1500 per month in Mass.
Some quotes:
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It costs the state of Vermont about $122 a day for Medicaid-covered senior citizens who live in nursing homes, compared with about $80 a day for those being cared for in their homes.
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Penny Walsh, 41, a former tenant of Parsons’, gets paid $10 an hour for 35 to 40 hours a week. She said she took the job because she was already doing some of Parsons’ cleaning and other chores for nothing.
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Meanwhile, Patrick Flood, commissioner of Vermont's Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, called nursing homes "an outdated model," adding, "It is a crazy situation. The service that people don't want and is more expensive" is guaranteed by the government, while "the service people prefer and is cheaper, isn't" (Lagnado, Wall Street Journal, 10/23).
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It seems like the momentum is picking up for an awareness than in-home care should be subsidized both for quality and for overall savings. Too bad we can't just wave a wand and make it national. As long as it truly saves the government money, why not?
Also, if anyone out there is from Illinois, I do know they have a program there as a friend of mine got paid $l,500.00 a month to care for her mother in her home in Chicago. However, I don't know the particulars and I have no way to contact my friend.
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