I live with both my grandparents. My grandpa just got out of hip surgery and he can't walk or do anything on his own and always needs help. My grandma is too weak to take care of him, and I am always either at school or work. We really need a care provider to come about 3 times a week but insurance doesn't cover it, and we simply can't afford it. What can we do?
Advanced elderly or those with chronic diseases are better off having original (sometimes called traditional) Medicare. The Medicare system is set up to allow without penalty a change on enrollment of plans in Nov & Dec, but they can change after a major event. If you can try to see if grandpa can change out of the HMO to original Medicare.
So your 17? If so, really dear, you need to have your mom, dad, an aunt, uncle be the point person in dealing with grandparents. One ofthem needs to be the DPOA and be the point peron for your grandarents. You aren't legal age to sign off on anything to start with. But imho also you need to have your own life and not be saddled with elder caregiving no matter how much you love them.
Is grandma clearheaded enough to be handling all this? Can you get on the phone with her and grandpa's doctors office to see him more homecare can be had?
You also can look up your local area agency on aging and call them to see what help is available.
All of the above answers have worked for me -- rehab, in-home pt, and help through area council on aging. It took a long time to find the right information -- don't give up!
My mom had to change her insurance from an HMO to regular Medicaid to get into a good rehab, but I was able to do that and it's working out great. Then I found out from the Alzheimer's Association (which also helps people with any kind of dementia, including memory loss, which also took me a while to find out) that NY state now has Medicaid "pooled trusts" for exactly people in my mom's financial position -- even with a free lawyer, it is taking months to get that straight, but at some point when she comes home from the rehab she will be able to get a LOT of long-term help at home because of this....
Don't lose faith. The help is out there if you need it. And don't let any social worker from the hospital or anywhere else tell you otherwise -- you just keep telling them and calling helper agencies that he NEEDS HELP, and you CANNOT do it. And good for you for posting here! That is a good step.
If your grandparents have Medicare, I don't understand why this wouldn't be covered. Check with the surgeon's office.