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Aid and attendance and medicaid are the two words you keep hearing right now, and neither one is explained anywhere in plain English. Your parent is not safe alone. Maybe there was a fall. Maybe the doctor said the words “memory care” out loud. The money math is frightening. A nursing home can cost more … Read more

Protect assets from nursing home costs is what you type at 11 p.m. after the hospital calls. A parent fell, or a discharge planner said the word “placement,” and suddenly a lifetime of savings feels like it is on a clock. You are not being greedy for asking. Nursing facility care runs into thousands of … Read more

Extra help vs medicare savings program is the question most adult children hit first, usually at the worst moment. Your parent needs long-term care. The bank balance is shrinking. Someone at the hospital or the facility said “apply for everything,” and handed you nothing. You are now reading two program names that sound almost identical. … Read more

medicaid waiver vs nursing home is the question that lands on you the week a parent stops being safe alone. Maybe there was a fall. Maybe the hospital called and said your mother cannot go home the way she is. Maybe a rehab stay is ending and someone handed you a discharge date. You are … Read more

Nursing home admission agreement paperwork almost always arrives on the worst day of the year. Your parent is in a hospital bed. A discharge planner says a room opened up and the facility needs an answer today. Someone slides a thick packet across a table and points at the signature lines. You are frightened, exhausted, … Read more

Caregiver agreement is probably a phrase someone said to you recently. Maybe a hospital social worker. Maybe a sibling who is worried about money. Your parent needs help every single day now. You are the one giving it. You may have cut your hours or left a job to do it. Money is going out … Read more

Community spouse resource allowance is the phrase you probably heard for the first time this month. Maybe a hospital discharge planner said it. Maybe a nursing home business office said it. Either way, you are the adult child in the middle. One parent needs long-term care. The other parent still lives at home. And someone … Read more

medicaid penalty period is the phrase you probably heard from a nursing home business office, and it landed like a punch. Maybe your mother gave you money for a car three years ago. Maybe your father put the house in your name to “keep it simple.” Now he needs skilled nursing care, the application is … Read more

Miller trust is a phrase most families hear for the first time in a hallway, from a billing clerk, on a bad day. Your parent needs nursing home care. You filed the Medicaid application. Then someone told you the income is a few hundred dollars too high. That does not mean your parent can afford … Read more