I am looking for long-term care for my mom. I have enough money to pay for her care for 3 months; then she will have to be on Medicaid. The nursing home she is currently in does not have a bed, so they are looking for another place for her. Most places want to see private pay first-getting your foot in the door, so to speak. I am extremely worried I won't find a decent place for her in time. I just had a home leave me a message about care, but the reputation of the place is not good. Do I go ahead and place her, or gamble on waiting to hear from someone else?
I depended on reviews and when I was transferring my dad I was handed a questionnaire used for ratings and the questions were slanted to create good reviews, which were all false.
I don't trust reviews after that experience.
Here's what I did for my Mom. In NJ you have 90 days from the date of application to spend down, get all the info needed to fit the criteria and find the applicant a NH/LTC. In April I applied for Medicaid. Mom was placed in a LTC facility on May 1st, paying privately for May and June. By June I had supplied all the info the caseworker needed, called him, he confirmed receipt and put in for Medicaid to start July 1st.
The best way is to pay as much as you can privately. Doing this also brought me under the 2k cap Mom was allowed. Actually, she had $184 in the bank.