I've heard from various sources that Medicaid will pay for a portion of AL if the AL facility falls under the particular state's "adult foster care" status.

I haven't had the chance to talk with our county's SHINE person regarding it yet, so I thought I'd mention it here in the meantime.

Has anyone done such with their LO? Does your LO need to be on Medicaid first before applying for the program? And, most important, how did you or your LO make up the remainder of the AL "room and board"?

quote:

Originally posted by GailSusan:
Massachusetts has a pilot program whereby they will pay for assisted living and some facilities will accept Medicaid without a co-pay from the family whereas other facilities want the family to kick in $500 a month. At least that was the case earlier this year when I looked into the situation for my dad.

As for adult foster care, there were no facilities in Worcester County where my dad lived. There were a few in another county, but the other residents had mental problems and would not be a good fit for my dad, so I gave up on pursuing that option.

The only viable option for my dad on Medicaid in Massachusetts was assisted living, which would have been great, except that he hated all the places I brought him to, or a rest home, which he wouldn't even look at, so now he's here at home with me in Connecticut and so far it's working out fine.

I just found out that MassHealth just instituted a buttload of loopholes for this adult foster care thing:

1. With the exception of ONE AL facility dedicated to ALZ, the Foster Care is for regular AL only.

2. It only pays for two or more ADLs up to a little over $1100/month. The family or the LO's assets pay for the rest. With most AL facilities averaging $6K/month, that $1100 is just a mere drop in the bucket. According to Mom's social worker, it's <i>designed</i> to be like that.

3. Most AL facilities with dedicated ALZ/dementia wings will NOT participate in the program because the payout from Medicaid is too low to offset the care needed for the population. The one that does -- it's the one I was initially interested in that's somewhat close to me -- has a 2+ year waiting list. That's right, 2+ years. They can afford to do so because their parent corporation rents out the rest of their facilities to another parent AL company. Almost all AL facilities, regular or otherwise, are company-owned and operated.

I AM SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW I'M GOING TO PUNCH MY FIST THROUGH A WINDOW. I WAS COUNTING ON THIS BECAUSE I CAN'T KEEP MOM HERE WITHOUT A MAJOR REMODEL AND THAT MEANS GETTING INVOLVED IN CRAP LIKE REVERSE MORTGAGES AND WHAT I DO WITH HER IN THE MEANTIME BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T NEED A NH AT THIS POINT AND I REFUSE TO PUT HER IN ONE BEFORE SHE'S READY.

OK, OK, I'll go to the Anger Wall...

Massachusetts has a pilot program whereby they will pay for assisted living and some facilities will accept Medicaid without a co-pay from the family whereas other facilities want the family to kick in $500 a month. At least that was the case earlier this year when I looked into the situation for my dad.

As for adult foster care, there were no facilities in Worcester County where my dad lived. There were a few in another county, but the other residents had mental problems and would not be a good fit for my dad, so I gave up on pursuing that option.

The only viable option for my dad on Medicaid in Massachusetts was assisted living, which would have been great, except that he hated all the places I brought him to, or a rest home, which he wouldn't even look at, so now he's here at home with me in Connecticut and so far it's working out fine.

Sometimes Medicaid will assist you in paying for Assisted Living BUT in my case they wouldn't cover it. BUT be adamnant and persistent.

Have you tried calling medicaid? I know that you may be put on hold and and transferred alot but cant hurt to call.