My 73 yr old Mom has lung cancer and was given up to 3 months to live about 4 months ago. She is in a private pay assisted living facility right now receiving palliative care as she is unable to shower by herself or perform other simple duties by herself. Mom is running out of money and our attempt at selling Moms house has not been successful even after many large price reductions. My brother is Moms POA and even though he lives local to Mom he is not able to take her in as his house is not conducive at all to someone in Mom's condition. I live out of state and am trying to help from afar. Mom only has 2 more more months of funds available to self-pay for her assisted living. We are filling out paperwork for VA aid and assistance survivor benefits as my deceased father was in the Navy. We also need to fill out paperwork for Medicaid but I don't know where to start. I spoke to Moms AL facility and they suggested we get an attorney, which is not doable for us as we don't have the funds for that. Does anyone have suggestions on where we can start the process without an attorney? Would social services from her county office be able to help us? Mom lives in IN and on the IN Medicaid site it says you can apply online, by phone or in person. Any suggestions or tips will be most appreciated. We are in a tough spot right now. We are looking in to the Medicaid option so late in the game because we had accepted a cash offer on Moms house and the closing was going to be a quick one. The buyers backed out and now we are in desperate need of help.
Call your mother's Area Agency on Aging and ask if they can recommend someone to give you some guidance. Sometimes the agency has volunteers who provide such help.
If you have to use an attorney that will cut into how long mother's money will last, but it could be done. Ask the AL if they accept a status of Medicaid Pending under the circumstances.
I'd try going through the application yourself first, and judging whether there are any complications in your mother's case.