Good luck with those services being covered. Never hurts to ask.
What you can do is check into meals on wheels, mobile meals or other home delivery food services.
Be sure and explain that she is not able to reheat or do any preparation of meals, if that is the struggle. There are daily deliveries and weekly deliveries based on needs.
She may have to hire a cleaning service to come in a couple of times a month but, at least you will know that her place is getting deep cleaned often enough to remain safe.
The local, to her, council on aging can help find these services and do a needs assessment to ensure that she is safe to continue living alone.
More info is needed as to what you interpret "functional" as being. Does she remember to take her meds? Is she eating properly? Is she having "accidents"? Does she sleep a lot? Is she a fall risk because she uses poor judgement or has a physical limitation? I ask these questions because my mom was great at hiding her limitations until I made daily trips there and saw for myself. Setting up wifi cameras in her home will be a huge help to you in determining how well she is actually functioning. If she is 100% functional then you will need to private pay someone local for a few hours to help her out with cleaning and cooking. The going rate in my city (NY) is $20. an hour. Local caretakers can be found on supermarket posting boards, senior centers, churches, & word of mouth. There are also home health agencies you can use but they will be more costly. Medicare doesn't pay for home care service, unless it is very short term after a hospital stay. Medicaid does pay for home aide services - but the amount of hours they allow will vary based on the patients functional skills. Your mother will be evaluated by a nurse to determine the amount of the hours they feel she needs. It can be a long process. If you are considering putting her on Medicaid, you MUST contact a well regarded elder care lawyer who can help with the entire application process and legally shield any assets you may want to protect. Best of luck to you.
SOME LTC policies will cover part of an in home aide. It is a little unusual, as far as I remember.
In home care will run you about $25 (guesstimate from when I was doing it) and the caregivers get like $10 of that. And we work outselves silly.
But--in a 6 hr period, I could shop, prep meals, clean, run my client to the dr., etc. Just had to be super efficient.
This allowed my client to stay in the home (with a daughter's family) and I made sure she was good and tired byt the end of the day, so the family could have alone time and not be fussing grandma, sweet as she was.
Doesn't work for everybody, but for some--a real game changer.
I am going through this right now. The only way is through applying for Medicaid or hiring an expensive house keeper. I know how challenging and difficult this can be. God bless you.
Medicare won't pay for daily in home care. You will need to call her suppliment provider to see if they cover in home care. If she has a Medicare Advantage, they have been advertising they pay for aides. Medicaid would be your other option. Mom would need to fit the criteria income wise. Each state is different.
What you can do is check into meals on wheels, mobile meals or other home delivery food services.
Be sure and explain that she is not able to reheat or do any preparation of meals, if that is the struggle. There are daily deliveries and weekly deliveries based on needs.
She may have to hire a cleaning service to come in a couple of times a month but, at least you will know that her place is getting deep cleaned often enough to remain safe.
The local, to her, council on aging can help find these services and do a needs assessment to ensure that she is safe to continue living alone.
If she is 100% functional then you will need to private pay someone local for a few hours to help her out with cleaning and cooking. The going rate in my city (NY) is $20. an hour. Local caretakers can be found on supermarket posting boards, senior centers, churches, & word of mouth. There are also home health agencies you can use but they will be more costly.
Medicare doesn't pay for home care service, unless it is very short term after a hospital stay. Medicaid does pay for home aide services - but the amount of hours they allow will vary based on the patients functional skills. Your mother will be evaluated by a nurse to determine the amount of the hours they feel she needs. It can be a long process. If you are considering putting her on Medicaid, you MUST contact a well regarded elder care lawyer who can help with the entire application process and legally shield any assets you may want to protect.
Best of luck to you.
In home care will run you about $25 (guesstimate from when I was doing it) and the caregivers get like $10 of that. And we work outselves silly.
But--in a 6 hr period, I could shop, prep meals, clean, run my client to the dr., etc. Just had to be super efficient.
This allowed my client to stay in the home (with a daughter's family) and I made sure she was good and tired byt the end of the day, so the family could have alone time and not be fussing grandma, sweet as she was.
Doesn't work for everybody, but for some--a real game changer.
Medicaid would be your other option. Mom would need to fit the criteria income wise. Each state is different.