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all i can say is it took health care professionals with special equipment to deal with 200lbs of paralyzed limp flesh and get my dad in and out of his wheel chair .
nothing family members or some friends we made could ever handle
Absolutely, yes, a nursing home becomes the setting of last resort (logistically, physically, emotionally, financially under Medicaid), certainly for extreme caretaking situations like a heavy immobile patient who also has medical needs. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily the ideal situation for high-level caretaking. Actually, at some point little is - particularly when a worst case scenario happens very quickly.
Still, a good good friend is caring for her disabled adult child who is totally immobile. Medicare pays for the necessary equipment: Hoyer lift, standing wheel chair, electric wheel chair, communication device etc. If she were in a SNF, she would have a feeding tube; at home she is hand-fed (2 hours per meal, which she enjoys). The minute she signals for a diaper change, it's done. Physical therapists come to the house.
Medicaid (as an adult child she qualifies while living in the family home) pays for home assistance. The caretakers sent by an agency first need training from family members in how to handle her needs. (CNAs in a SNF have high injury rates from physically moving heavy patients - turning, changing sheets and more - and also need training.)
BUT we all know this isn't the situation most of us will have: in-house family caretakers including some in good physical condition. The family home was purchased with caretaking in mind.
Receiving that level of one-on-one dedicated care in a SNF is also not that likely, certainly after funds from personal wealth or a time-limited LTCi policy run out and Medicaid takes over.
Generally speaking caretaking levels in CCRCs (particularly a non-profit associated with a religious institution) are high, surpassing that of standalone nursing homes. Still, post-pandemic they, too, are struggling to find trained caretakers. Even within a CCRC, patients who have 'more' wealth perhaps from LTCi can obtain additional private nursing.
usage for long term care has been grossly underestimated since it’s based on those a generation ago .
very high usage both in facilities and in home care has prompted most insurers to pull out of the market as usage seems to grow higher and higher and boomers are not in that sweet spot yet .
so all that matters at the end of the day is if it’s you , or it’s not
it is even very different from life insurance since each year the insurers can tell us how many will die.
but since they can’t tell us who , many of us scramble to get term life policies even though stats say less then 2% of us will die each year . that is way way way less then long term care usage .
so it is kind of bizarre that the same people who buy term life with less then a 1-2% chance of usage , cite the stats for long term care usage as low odds when they are huge in comparison to odds of dying young.
most family can only handle someone needing care when it borders just needing assisted living and not true long term care needs.
24/7 care is tough today with couples needing to work or having careers.
i wish i had a dollar for every family blown apart because one sibling and spouse took a big financial and social hit when they stepped up to the plate and the other siblings stepped back
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-03-2023 at 10:50 AM..
usage for long term care has been grossly underestimated since it’s based on those a generation ago .
very high usage both in facilities and in home care has prompted most insurers to pull out of the market as usage seems to grow higher and higher and boomers are not in that sweet spot yet .
so all that matters at the end of the day is if it’s you , or it’s not
Absolutely. The unexpected high usage resulted from multiple factors ... more older and more fragile adults, families more geographically dispersed, women now in the workplace. As you put it ... there are generational changes. Also unlike auto insurance (who wants an accident, and then having to use it) there's a higher likelihood of using LTCi particularly for home care because aging and its associated challenges do happen. Attempts - successful ones - to qualify at some point for LTC payouts are not so surprising.
Still not all generational changes are negative, technology allows family members to provide some help (and monitoring) from a distance. The new gig economy is a plus. The more plans in place, including back-ups, the better. Money is good, whatever the source.
In the end, if the worst happens and all plans fail and the money gets spent there is that medicaid-bed if a need for nursing care is added. (If not, that's a separate societal issue as more elderly adults with care needs are showing up at homeless shelters.)
Absolutely, yes, a nursing home becomes the setting of last resort (logistically, physically, emotionally, financially under Medicaid), certainly for extreme caretaking situations like a heavy immobile patient who also has medical needs. But that doesn't mean it's necessarily the ideal situation for high-level caretaking. Actually, at some point little is - particularly when a worst case scenario happens very quickly.
Still, a good good friend is caring for her disabled adult child who is totally immobile. Medicare pays for the necessary equipment: Hoyer lift, standing wheel chair, electric wheel chair, communication device etc. If she were in a SNF, she would have a feeding tube; at home she is hand-fed (2 hours per meal, which she enjoys). The minute she signals for a diaper change, it's done. Physical therapists come to the house.
Medicaid (as an adult child she qualifies while living in the family home) pays for home assistance. The caretakers sent by an agency first need training from family members in how to handle her needs. (CNAs in a SNF have high injury rates from physically moving heavy patients - turning, changing sheets and more - and also need training.)
BUT we all know this isn't the situation most of us will have: in-house family caretakers including some in good physical condition. The family home was purchased with caretaking in mind.
Receiving that level of one-on-one dedicated care in a SNF is also not that likely, certainly after funds from personal wealth or a time-limited LTCi policy run out and Medicaid takes over.
Generally speaking caretaking levels in CCRCs (particularly a non-profit associated with a religious institution) are high, surpassing that of standalone nursing homes. Still, post-pandemic they, too, are struggling to find trained caretakers. Even within a CCRC, patients who have 'more' wealth perhaps from LTCi can obtain additional private nursing.
I can't imagine the hell the friend/parent must be going through..
Absolutely. The unexpected high usage resulted from multiple factors ... more older but more fragile adults, families more geographically dispersed, women now in the workplace. As you put it ... there are generational changes. Also unlike auto insurance (who wants an accident, and then having to use it) there's a higher likelihood of using the policy particularly for home care because aging and its associated challenges do happen. Attempts to qualify at some point for LTC payouts under a policy are not so surprising.
Still not all generational changes are negative, technology allows family members to provide some help (and monitoring) from a distance. The new gig economy is a plus. The more plans in place, including back-ups, the better. Money is good, whatever the source.
In the end, if the worst happens and all plans fail and the money gets spent there is that medicaid-bed if a need for nursing care is added. (If not, that's a separate societal issue as more elderly adults with care needs are showing up at homeless shelters.)
You do not want to be in a primarily Medicaid facility, if you have any other options..
We don’t.
Relying on growth of retirement funds.
Retirement funds are great way to growth wealth, just keep in mind you might need a great deal of $ should you require extensive medical care for a long time. My father-in-law required round-the-clock care for 10 years.
Retirement funds are great way to growth wealth, just keep in mind you might need a great deal of $ should you require extensive medical care for a long time. My father-in-law required round-the-clock care for 10 years.
my dad was 5 years and he impoverished his second wife.
they had enough for a decent life in florida but once the stroke hit that was it and money drained fast
I can't imagine the hell the friend/parent must be going through..
She's been amazingly okay over the years, although dealing with the bureaucracy to obtain assistance is a major major pain. Agency caretakers have not worked out well.
Now, though, it's harder. Her husband has become disabled with a neurological disease. That makes it harder for her to get away for mini-trips.
How what wealth they have will be sorted to provide for the permanently disabled adult child, the healthy adult child who chose to remain in the home long-term, the now failing senior, and finally my healthy but aging friend - that's a challenge.
Sorry, this just sounds creepy. If you want a caregiver to live on your property then take all the correct legal steps to be able to do this. Too much could go so so wrong with your plan.
What can go wrong? It's certainly a more solid plan than a nursing home where things WILL GO WRONG for sure. Planning ahead to live in a facility is creepy. As thinking adults, we should be planning for the exact opposite.
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