Have you ever had to put a relative or friend into a nursing home?

[PassingFair]

I am going INSANE :crazy: trying to do all
the paperwork and get the shit together that
Medicaid needs...

To make matter WORSE, the nursing home is
telling me one thing and the "Eldercare"
lawyer I talked to is telling me another.

I think that they BOTH want to get their
hands on what little my relative has left.

I am about to just FORGET it, and file
the papers on my own and let the nursing home
"spend her down".

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

I had to take a week off of work to
"handle" this and I feel helpless.
The terminology is confusing, and her
"papers" are all over the place, including,
but not least, in BOXES in her storage room.

:crazy:

The nursing home is telling me that they
are booting her on Friday...the lawyer
is telling me that the forms don't have
to be filed until the end of the month.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. That just about sums it up.

We did it for someone who was already receiving Medicaid and it STILL was a giant pain in the neck. You'd think being income eligible would expedite the process, but no.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. Contact Midlo

She knows a lot about this, seriously.

And, :hug:

[PassingFair]

4. She despises me because I once made a snide comment about the Jonas Bros.

The thing that cranks me is that
this relative (my Aunt) refused
"therapy" which disqualified her
for Medicare, just because she
didn't like the physical therapist.

:crazy:

If she had just gone along with the
*ucking therapy, I would have had
another 2 weeks to deal....

As it is, the nursing home wants
everything NOW, or its on to
"private pay"....

Now I've got to handle POA and
everything else in less than a
week, and the lawyer wants to
play chicken with the nursing home....

(I'm glad to see your updates about
your mother, by the way. You will be
glad in years to come that you are
spending this time with her....)

:hug:

[bicentennial_baby]

5. She's outta ICU as of 6pm today!

On her way to the rehab hospital as we speak. :bounce:

[PassingFair]

6. If I were you...

I'd download a medicaid application SOON...
at least get the info together...

My aunt was discharged to "rehab",
they told me she would be able to
stay for a month and 1/2, but when
she refused therapy, they told me
she had to go. Gave me 4 days warning...
including the weekend.

Good news about your Mom!!!

:hug:

[bicentennial_baby]

8. She has my Dad's VA insurance, which covers this facility

We're in the middle of getting her on Medicare and SSDI now.

Thanks :hug:

[Midlodemocrat]

15. No I don't. I'll help you. Seriously.

[PassingFair]

18. I'm meeting the lawyer tonight at the nursing home to get POA signed and sealed...

The real question I have is:

The nursing home wants a check from
me for 13 days at "private pay" rates
to keep her there UNLESS I get the medicaid
application to them by Friday.

The lawyer says the application doesn't
have to be filed until the end of this
month.

Question: Can I be CERTAIN that
Medicaid will reimburse the $2,561
that the nursing home says I have to pay?

Any advise will be appreciated, Midlo...

:scared:

[Midlodemocrat]

20. Okay, so she's already in the nursing home?

First of all, once she's there, they cannot kick her out. Even if they say they will, they cannot. Is she on Medicare presently?

[PassingFair]

21. Lawyer will have a "pending letter" faxed to them tomorrow...

met with him tonight to get the POA
and turn over documents for the
Medicaid application.

She was on Medicare for her "rehab"
in the same facility, but they told
me last Thursday that she was going
to be discharged today because she
had "plateaued".

They called me back on Friday and
told me that they had a "Medicaid
bed" available, and they would
extend her "rehab" until THIS
Friday. They said that if I hadn't
filed for Medicaid by then, she
was OUT.

The lawyers called her this afternoon
(thanks for telling me, NOT!) and they
agreed to hold the medicaid bed if they
got a "pending letter" from them this week.

Tomorrow, I have to run around and pre-pay
burial arrangements and pick up the POA.

After paying everyone, my aunt should come
out $4,000 ahead because I used the lawyers
instead of just letting the nursing home
"pay down" what she has left.

Whew! Hopefully, the case worker at the
nursing home will confirm all of this
tomorrow.

Thanks! If you know of anything else I
can do, let me know...

:hi:

[trof]

3. Yes, but our experience was nothing like yours.

It was back in the 70s.
Nothing that we did would help you.
Sorry.

[KamaAina]

7. In my line of work, we try to keep people *out* of nursing homes

and living at home with the necessary supports. The trendy buzzword is "aging in place".

There is a Center for Independent Living near you:

http://www.ilru.org/html/publications/directory/michigan.html

Since you were a near neighbor of our departed Transformer (who has not graced us much with her presence of late :( ), I expect the nearest is this one:

http://www.dnom.org

16645 15 Mile Road
Clinton Township, MI 48035
[phone] or [phone]

They even have a Nursing Facility Transition Specialist! (not all centers do)

Lindsay Kohler Nursing Facility Transition Specialist

[e-mail]

Also try a county or state office on aging.

[PassingFair]

9. She is incontinent....

and medicaid won't pay for
24 hour home care....

She's also very confused and
has very little in the way of
short-term memory.

Thanks for the links, though...

I'll call the Disability people tomorrow.

:hi:

[emilyg]

10. Yes - my Dad. Things went smoothly.

[PassingFair]

11. How long did it take to be Medicaid approved...

and how far back did Medicaid pay
during the pre-application days?

I am getting a different story from
the nursing home than I get from the
lawyer...

Did you hire a lawyer, or file yourself.
Were you able to shield any of your father's
savings or were they "spent down" by the
nursing home before Medicaid kicked in?

[emilyg]

12. Medicaid paid after Nursing

Home "spent down" Dad's money. I filed - looking back wish I had gotten lawyer.

[PassingFair]

14. Thanks for the input, emily...

The nursing home is really bullying me,
and the lawyer just tells me not to worry
about it...but HE isn't the one that's
going to have an incontinent 84=year old
dropped on HIS doorstep on Friday!

I'm meeting him tonight to have the
POA signed and notarized....

I don't know if it's worth the trouble...

:crazy:

[PassingFair]

13. .

Posted in wrong place....

:blush:

[EFerrari]

16. My grandma was in for about 48 hours before she started deteriorating

and we brought her back home. The nursing home didn't have time to screw up the paperwork. They were too busy screwing up my Mami.

She lived another ten years at home.

[PassingFair]

17. I can't quit my job to take care of her...

and medicare/caid won't pay for
24-hr home care.

Plus, she LIKES it there...

[EFerrari]

19. That sounds like a good solution, PassingFair.

The place we tried was really the only option and it didn't work. So, about six of us took turns and also pitched in for an attendant that lived in.