What are some options when Mom starts to run out of money and has 24/7 care in-home?

Long term care insurance coverage can help pay for different types of long term care services such as nursing homes, home care, adult day care, CCRCs and assisted living facilities.

www.agingcare.com/articles/Definition-of-long-term-care-insurance-143436.htm

Life insurance is also a good payment option. Your mother can use accelerated death benefits, life settlements or viatical settlements. There are also government programs that provide long term care like Medicaid but your mom should qualify first before she can receive benefits. Reverse mortgage is also another option but it's too risky so make sure that your mom will pay on time in order to avoid foreclosure. I hope these things can help you determine the best payment option for your mom.

I agree with Craig that preventative is smarter than doing a panic response to "the fall" after it has happened. I'm trying very much to put safety first, yet my elder does not always work with me. Our generation of caregiving family members have a lot to manage, yet we do have this site to share ideas!

I am in Massachusetts. My Dad is 92 and has been in a NH for 2 1/2 years now. We did pay for the first month and 1/2 then applied for Medicaid. I would highly recommend using an attorney that specialized in Medicaid which is what I did as my mother is still living also so things got a little confusing for me to do on my own. She was worth every penny as my mother was allowed to keep the monies she had and my Dad went on Medicaid to pay for the NH. Now my mother is in the same nursing home in the assisted living part and the money she did have is flying out the window. Good luck it is a tough road!

She can also look into a reverse mortgage if she owns her home. Certainly all resources and programs must be considered and researched, but the reverse mortgage should not be overlooked - especially if her desire is to age in place.

I was buying my mom's house on land contract because at one timr, that was acceptable for Medicaid. Then mom landed in thr NH for therapy. By then the land contract was considered a resource and she was ineligible. I had to bring her home. I was working at the time. We used the money from the land contract to pay caregivers $10/hr ( rate in '94h) whilr I worked/was away, til the money was within resource limits. She was readmitted to the NH for the remainder. By then, she could barely swallow and needed a feeding tube, which is skilled care.

Fast worward 15 years, my aunt, already on Medicaid, falls and breaks her hip. The nursing home didn't think she should be discharged because PT thought she was a fall risk. She was 91. She wanted to come home, and that is PT's goal. The SW contacted the Area Office on Aging, and she was approved for the Passport Waiver program. In our state it only pays for 21 hrs/wk care. It also pays for a personal alarm, Mobile Meals, Depends and wipes. It has pd for a few other items over the years, including her very own wheelchair ramp. Wish I would have asked about that sooner. All this is cheaper than a nursing home. Plus she has regular nurse and social work visits.

Mhaines - just to correct a misunderstanding about HIPAA - you, or indeed anyone, can give information to a doctor about a medical problem or potential danger - you just can't get medical information from the doctor without the HIPAA papers in place. So you can inform them, tell them, yell at them, or whatever, but they can't give info to you. Not the best situation, but definitely helpful option, particularly when a real danger is present and your hands are tied.

I have tried talking to their doctors. Usually I only get the assistant and I never know if they tell the dr. Once, when I tried to get them to suggest a cognitive test for my mom, I was told to there HER to request the test. In my experience dealing with doctors is not a great experience.

Send a written letter to the doctor, and then follow up to see if the letter has been placed in her chart or on her electronic records. If your parents' doctor is not responding to your communication after multiple tries, it is time to change doctors.

If dealing with doctors is not a great experience, change doctors! We have fired several doctors on the road to my mother's health and welbeing. The first one caused her to develop heart failure due to an oversight of her having not been properly diagnosed with hyper thyroid which led to A-fib then to a stroke. I took Mother to an acupuncturist who aided her almost complete recovery from all but the A-fib and hyper thyroid. Maybe I should have continued it longer, but medicare doesn't pay for healers. Now Mother has a great cardiologist, a very good geriatrician and a fair endocrinologist (I may fire her next). Remember YOU are in control of who provides health care. You are the customer of the doctor and the customer is always right! I've learned how to be assertive and how to be an advocate. Hopefully this is not off topic too much, but I'm following the thread.If you have a DPOA, they have to do what you say unless your loved one objects.
Now about reverse mortgages. If she "abandons" her home for more than 90 days, (is put into a nursing home) the mortgage company may be able to take it from her. That's in the fine print. One of my clients is dealing with that right now. It is in litigation. Her parents took out a reverse mortgage, not understanding the ramifications and they lost the house within 6 months and all the pending payments that should have come to them were down the drain because they were not living in the home. READ THE FINE PRINT!! Or better still avoid the evil banksters.