How to secure financial aid for senior living
Irrespective of the surprising drop in the median rate of assisted living in the past years, the so-to-speak dropped cost still appears expensive to a few sets of older adults. If you are one, you should not shy away from opting for assisted living because several platforms have been created to assist you financially.
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Platforms that provide you with financial assistance
The platforms created to provide you with financial assistance for an assisted living offers coverages that range from medical expenses to the overall cost of assisted living, and they include the following
– Medicaid and assisted
– Veterans programs and assisted living
– State non-Medicaid programs
– Original Medicare or Medicare advantages
– Social security
Medicaid and assisted living
Medicaid provides financial assistance to older adults for assisted living through three different programs —that is, Medicaid waivers, Medicaid care program, and Personal Assistance Services.
The Personal Assistance Services is a type of Medicaid program called State Plan Personal Care that is limited to only those eligible for the services they offer. In which the beneficiaries are guaranteed of receiving the utmost care they require in assisted living communities by paying for their personal care.
Medicaid waivers program, which is also called Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers and 1915(c) waivers, is the most common type of Medicaid program that provides assistance for an assisted living. However, some states have diverted their interest from Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) to Medicaid care program, which is designated to provide financial assistance for individuals in an assisted living. But this is through Medicaid managed program rather than through waivers.
Although the cost of assisted living is inexpensive, which simultaneously makes it very affordable to the states, in the provision of financial assistance to older adults for assisted living, Medicaid assistance for assisted living has been dauntingly inconsistent with the benefits they offer. These inconsistencies occur in about forty-four states and across Washington DC, to be succinct. Amongst these states, there are variations in the coverage policy that concerns the number of people accommodating a community. Some of them may:
– cover the expenses of personal care only
– Regulate the size of the community
– While some do not regulate the number of residents in a community
Veterans programs and assisted living
This is primarily the financial assistance program customized for veterans with an overwhelming cost of assisted living in the form of pensions called the Aid and Attendance Benefits. You will need to be qualified for some requirements before you can be eligible for the benefits that come from this program, although it may take a longer time for successful approval. The requirements veterans or their spouse must be qualified for before enjoying the benefits of this program include the following:
The veterans or their spouses must be at least sixty-five years of age or disabled when young with low incomes.
The discharge status must be honorable, but they will not be eligible for this assistance if they are dishonorably discharged
A veteran must be classified as a wartime veteran. Viz. The veterans must have served at least ninety days during wartimes such as World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Gulf War, even if they did not participate in the combats.
The veteran’s spouse must be married to him before they are deceased and must be single during the time of claim
There is, however, another way in which veterans can benefit from financial assistance for older adults’ care. Still, this assistance only works for independent living communities but not for assisted living communities. This is a Veteran directed care program that may also be called VD-HCBS; they cover the expenses of personal care incurred by veterans who opt for independent living communities.
State non-Medicaid programs
State non-Medicaid programs is a program in which older adults are the eligible beneficiaries. These programs may come in different forms in which some provide financial assistance to older adults, and they are not limited or specific for assisted living only. Still, they can also be used for other purposes. Other forms of programs may provide assistance for those in assisted living rather than home.
This financial assistance is directed towards the state’s wallet primarily because it appears inexpensive to the state than in Medicaid-funded nursing homes. There are several types of state non-Medicaid programs in the United States. They differ in eligibility requirements; the various types include Maryland Project Home, Hawaii Foster Home, Virginia Adult Services, New York assisted living, and Massachusetts Supportive Senior Housing Initiatives Program.
Original Medicare or Medicare advantages
Medicare programs primarily cover the cost of a few medical expenses incurred by older adults in an assisted living community so long as they received medical attention in a hospital or at home.
On the contrary, Medicare Advantage (MA) covers all the expenses original Medicare does not cover, such as personal care assistance and other supportive services required in assisted living communities. Furthermore, apart from medical attention, Medicare advantages (MA) also offer non-medical benefits such as daily living activities like laundry, bathing, and a few housework to retain the aesthetic and structural integrity of your home.
Social security and assisted living
Social security benefits are similar to state non-Medicaid programs in the aspect of specificity because they do not pay for assisted living. Still, rather they are directed to the individual who may decide to use it for the settlement of the cost of their assisted living community.
These are the ways in which older adults are provided with financial assistance in either assisted living communities or independent living communities, and they all vary in conditions and eligibility requirements. There are, however, other ways in which older adults can pay for their personal and medical cares, and they include
The older adults may obtain assisted living loans, which may be due to several conditions, such as when Veterans are waiting for the approval of their Aid and Attendance Benefits.
The use of life insurance policy to pay for your personal and medical care provided by the assisted living communities through several ways that include viatical settlement and life settlements which involves the selling of their right by their policyholder, to obtain death benefits from their policy. Viz. They exchanged their life insurance for health care.
