Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Medicaid Assisted Living Facilities

My father currently gets Medicaid. Since he is pretty old, we have decided that it would be best to move him to a Medicaid assisted living facility where he could get care. Although all states accept Medicaid payment for people in nursing homes, that is not the case with assisted living. There are a handful of assisted living facilities that accept Medicaid throughout the country.

We had to check our state’s guidelines for whether or not Medicaid would pay for assisted living. Luckily, we were able to find a facility that accepted Medicaid. The assisted living facility that we found was very good. They provide meals, housekeeping, laundry services, and even transportation. It costs about 3000 dollars per month but with Medicaid paying it really helps a lot. Some of things we had to look at in a facility were whether or not the staff treated their residents well. We talked to several residents there and they said that they were treated well. Everyone seemed happy to live there. I felt relieved to be able to leave my father in their care.

If you are looking for facilities that accept the assisted living waiver, you may want to contact your state Medicaid office to get more information. Likewise, you may be able to go to their website where they will provide information on living facilities that accept the waiver.

After the first month living at the facility, I went to visit my dad. He said that he really enjoys living there. People there are nice and friendly. There are always social activities going on so that he never gets bored. He said that it was a good choice to go live there. He has met a lot of new friends so he never feels bored. The staff also helps my dad buy groceries so there is not much he has to worry about.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Low Cost Senior Housing

My neighbor is an old man living by himself. He has been retired for at least 10 years I think. Recently he told me that he could not afford to pay the rent anymore. This was due to the stock market crash. He lost a lot of money and he has run out of money from his savings. Although he gets social security payments, it is barely enough to cover the cost of his food and other bills.

I suggested that he apply for low cost senior housing where the government would help him pay part of the rent. He seemed pretty keen on the idea. Given that he has small amounts of income, he was easily accepted into the government program. I told my neighbor to go look for a place that would be suitable for him. I told him that some of things he should look for in a place to live is whether it is a safe place and whether or not it has close access to transportation and shopping areas.

He did some research online and found some places where he would like to live. I drove him out to the places to check them out. The places seemed pretty good and it looked like a nice place to live. One of the places was even right next to a supermarket. This is really good because my neighbor can walk to the grocery store anytime. He would save a lot of time and money on gas. Plus he would get good exercise. He decided that this house would be the best place to live in.

He used the voucher that HUD gave him to pay the rent. He was able to save quite a bit of money by not having to pay full rent. This is definitely a wonderful program for those who are poor and old.