My mother is in assisted living. Her Alzheimer’s is getting worse and she's out of money. She doesn’t qualify for Medicaid. What do I do?

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My mother is in assisted living. Her Alzheimer’s is getting worse and she's out of money. She doesn’t qualify for Medicaid. What do I do?

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My mother has no assets, nothing left but her social security and VA payments she gets. She’s just short of qualifying for Medicaid. The qualification limit is $2,349 and her income is $2,457! Her monthly expenses come to $4,823 each month.

Her Alzheimer's is at the stage where she is paranoid, aggressive and aggravated most of the time.

My mother is 96 and physically healthy.

Part of her problem is she’s been spitting out her pills because she thinks they are trying to poison her!

Of course, most of those pills are to calm her emotional state, so they brought in Hospice Palliative Care to be a part of her care now. The goal is to find a way to administer her meds to make sure she’s getting them in her. Temporarily they are using injections and creams to try to get her back to the point she was just two months ago when she was mostly calm and happy. Recently she’s been going into rages and she slapped two nurses! That is not my mom. She wouldn’t do that in her right mind.

Anyway, she needs much more additional care and at the same time she’s out of money. The last of our resources was cashing in her life insurance policies.

So now she can only afford half of the cost to stay there. I’ve exhausted my research resources trying to find financial help. Up until just a few weeks ago Medicaid allowed subtracting a quarter of the VA money as “non-income“ which would have let her qualify. The government just took that option away. This has been their policy for at least a few years if not more, because I checked on all this a year ago so I wasn’t worried about her qualifying.

The Medicaid person I spoke with said they were all shocked when this order came through a few weeks ago. They have many people on Medicaid who use that system. So....I’m stressed to the hilt...she only has one more month she can pay and I don’t know what to do.

My mother must be in a facility with 24 hour care. Living with me would not be possible.

She lived with me for 7 years before Assisted Living.

Have any of you gone through not qualifying and desperately needing financial help? If so, what did you do?

I appreciate any comments and info.

thank you.

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Sounds like the administration has not been very good for your mother.

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Troll.

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A Medicare buyout and a new place. Call the county eldercare helpline-- (211) . If her late husband was in the military she can get Aid and Attendance-- call congressman and County VA rep-- right now-- $1127/mo.

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Possibly more -- she can also apply with a Medical Expense Report to the VA to get money for the last two years for a caregiver or carehome place.

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My mother's income was just a bit to high for her to qualify for community Medicaid. I set her up with a Medicaid spend down. I just had to produce expenses each month that brought her income down to the Medicaid level. I could use the cost of her health insurance supplement, medical bills and any Part D copays and her depends and pads, kleenex and over the counter vitamins and even her tylenol. Once she qualified she was eligible for lower copays for her medications and even to have her Part D insurance paid for. The assisted living that she was living in even charged a lower amount based on her income. Once she qualified for a Nursing Home the application for Chronic care was easy since I had everything together from applying for community care. Just know you need 5 years of back bank statements for Chronic care. Your local Office of Aging can help you with the application.

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Like JBryan I thought the VA benefits and Medicaid were mutually exclusive, but the question would be are the "VA payments" your mother gets part of the VA Aid and Attendance, or is it a pension, either her own or from your father?

I did find the following online, BUT the rules may vary from one state to another (this one might be GA - recheck = yup):

"If a person is receiving VA Aid and Attendance Benefits, he/she may still be eligible for Medicaid. VA Aid and Attendance Benefits do not count as income for Medicaid purposes, so he/she may meet income eligibility criteria for Medicaid.
Once approved for Medicaid, though, the VA benefit is reduced to $90/month for most recipients."

More can be read at (just for info, not signing up with them!!!):
https://hurleyeclaw.com/2018/12/05/how-medicaid-and-va-benefits-work-together/
I also found:
2020 Indiana Medicaid Long Term Care Eligibility for Seniors
Type of Medicaid Single
Income Limit Asset Limit
Institutional / Nursing Home Medicaid $2,349 / month* $2,000

It is baffling why so many states have such a low threshold for the income limit. Apparently whoever makes these rules has never had to place a LO in a NH!

So, if mom's VA benefit is A&A, it shouldn't count, but if approved, most of that goes away - that just means Medicaid has to pay more! Seems rather silly.

Perhaps someone has made an error? Consult with EC attorney, have them review the application (perhaps get an appeal going first?) Consider the Miller Trust others suggested (EC atty can help with that too.)

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It is all taxpayer dollars, so it is either out of the left pocket or right pocket. What difference does it make what it is called, A&A or Medicaid still taxpayers.

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Imho, perhaps she could she "spend down" some of her funds, e.g. prepay funeral, et al so that then she was qualify for Medicaid.

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Find yourself an Elder attorney asap. I can't figure out IF she is OUT of money, why does she not qualify for Medicaid. If her expenses are more than she makes, she is below what she is allowed. something don't seem right here. When my father went into NH we paid one full month, after that he qualified for Medicaid. We got in touch with an Elder attorney and they helped us get thru the mess. I am the POA for both parents so I took care of the bills (still do for my mom), I had to keep my fathers assets down to $2400 a month. The house was in mom's name so he didn't have much. when he got his pension, I would write out all the bills out of his checking account and if still too much, I would withdraw and give to my mom for her groceries, etc. PLEASE contact an Elder attorney. I am wishing you luck

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Have you met with the facility's social worker or talked with their financial department? I have a couple suggestions for resources but I don't have any real answers to your situation. If you haven't done so already, you might consider calling: the Area Agency on Aging, Alzheimer's Association, 2-1-1 (in CT anyway), a case/care management company, or an elder care law attorney. Heck, I'd even consider calling my Congressman/woman to see if there was anything they could do for you.

If it's an outside (not from within the facility) Hospice or Palliative care team that has come in to take over her care, they usually pay for medications and I'd check to make sure that the facility isn't continuing to bill for services which are now being covered by palliative care. It might bring her bill down somewhat.

Good luck!

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Once she’s run out of money ,Medicaid pays for a place .

you did your fair share spending her money ....on her healthcare

I get it!!!

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She needs long term nursing . You spent her savings now apply at a nursing home and let them accept her under Medicaid

they will evaluate monthly income vs assets ...

she will be placed

sad part COVID ! We can’t see our moms

BUT MEDICAID SHOULD COVER YOU

IF THE GOvenor world get rid of t

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Hopefully you've made an appointment with a good elder attorney or someone who can set up a Miller trust, because she definitely will qualify for LTC Medicaid. The person in the business office and social worker should be aware of the procedures in your state as well. I'd be surprised if they're not offering assistance, because they should know, they should have had residents before that have been in similar situations. If they are not helpful, please see an attorney and have the Miller trust set up. She will qualify for Medicaid.

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I was told that if Mom’s was a hundred or two over to just buy her a gown, a top, pair of pants, shoes, get her nails done or whatever to drop it below the base amount required and keep receipts. I did and there came a time that I took those receipts to DHHS and they scanned them in. This was when they were doing the final approval. Pay somebody to sit with her for a few hours and pay them. It is legal and a good solution and Medicaid representative is the one who told me to do this because they know she still requires clothes and care that nursing facility does not provide.

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What we had to do for my husbands mom was create a irrevocable trust and have her monthly payments deposited into a bank account tied to that trust. That way it is not considered her money and she can qualify for help. Talk to a lawyer familiar with elder care issues, the one we went to charged us a flat fee to create the trust and advise us on how much of her money to transfer to the trust account, etc. Best thing we ever did.

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Hi, I had a similar problem with an elderly relative as to VA benefits. See if you can up her benefits, first of all. Contact Cindy at CodeofVets on Twitter at: @CLWAL02. Let me know how it goes!
Lisa

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My mother is in assisted living. Her Alzheimer’s is getting worse and she's out of money. She doesn’t qualify for Medicaid. What do I do?

43 Answers

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