Can Family Members Be a Paid Senior Caregiver?
It’s so amazing the devotion that paid caregivers provide for their clients. My cousin is a caregiver who works through an agency. No matter if the hours are up, the weather is poor or her client is hospitalized, she is there for her patient. Bear in mind, that when a patient is in the hospital or rehab, the caregiver usually is not being paid by the agency until the patient returns home. Yet, my cousin goes to visit her client, makes sure that her laundry is done but barely gets a pittance from her client’s family.
Sometimes, family members are not satisfied with the caregivers that the agency offers. What should a son or daughter do if they see that their parent is not well looked after or in rare instances abused by their caretaker? It could also be that due to the parent’s personality, dementia or depression, no stranger, no matter how compassionate, is a match for the parent’s mood swings.
Many adult children have professions and jobs that keep them occupied all day. As a devoted daughter or son, they will stop by before or after work to check on their parent(s). However, at a certain point in the aging process around the clock home care becomes a necessity.
In certain cases, (veterans, for example) and in certain states there are Medicaid programs that allow people to hire their own caregivers. All fifty states offer Medicaid waiver self-directed, long-term services that will allow people to hire and fire their own caregivers. Certain states do approve the care receiver to hire a family member to provide care.
Coverage and rules vary from state to state. In some states, a caregiver can be a member of the family, but not a spouse or legal guardians (for example, a grandchild, niece or nephew). Some states will only pay a family member that does not live in the same house as the senior. The recipient’s annual income must not be more than the program allows for relatives to work as caregivers. These complications make it difficult to know the laws so you must research well.
Ohio PASSPORT Program
In Ohio there is a senior service program which is called PASSPORT ( Pre-Admission Screening Providing Options and Resources Today). This is a statewide Medicaid waiver program designed to provide an alternative to nursing home care. Funding is provided by the Ohio Department of Aging and the Federal Government through a Medicaid Waiver. Ohio Medicare requires that caregivers cannot spend more than 60% of what it would cost to host the patient at a local nursing home. Before taking on the responsibility of being an all-out caregiver it would be wise to get some price quotes from local nursing home in Ohio.
The first step is to contact your state, Medicaid office to start the procedure. There are over one- million people in this country who are taking advantage of these self-directed care plans. The potential applicant is then tested to see if they are both physically and emotionally fit to take on the responsibility of becoming a caregiver.
There are many responsibilities to be a caregiver that may not be apparent initially. For example, besides meal preparation, laundry, shopping and medication dispensing, the caregiver will be required to bathe, feed and dress the patient. What about housekeeping? Therefore, the potential caregiver is advised to have a detailed written service plan. There are many technical details about Medicaid eligibility that are quite multifaceted and must be reviewed accurately.
In a minimal amount of states, there is a program called adult foster care. In these states, Medicaid will allow adult children to become adult foster care providers for the elderly parent(s). The adult children, in these programs will be compensated in two ways; the state’s supplemental assistance funds and by Medicaid. By law, Medicaid is not allowed to pay for the room and board of the adult children but will pay for the care services that the adult child gives to his or her parent(s). The care-giving child will be awarded between fifteen hundred and twenty-five hundred dollars a month depending on these factors: level of care, and state of residence.
Some seniors have what is called, long-term care insurance. Each long- term care policy is varying with the allowance of payment to children who are caring for their parents. Most common long-term care policies state that the care provider must be licensed. Therefore, with such policies, the daughter or son must obtain a business license and registration with the appropriate local authorities. It is not as burdensome as it appears, and it can be a quick process. The adult child caregiver would be required to pay taxes on this income.
One of the main complications is that the adult child caregiver must either give up their jobs or decrease their working hours. This child caregiver could be giving up job opportunities, Social Security revenue and the opportunity to add to their retirement savings. This also goes hand and hand with giving up personal freedom. Of course, every child feels that they should be taking care of their elderly parent when they are incapacitated. That’s what a respectful and loving child would do. When there is a need for more than a few hours of care, an adult child might decide to move in with their parent(s). The median cost of a health aide of about $170 dollars a day according to the 2017 Genworth Cost of Care Survey. Most people do not have the financial backing to pay for this.
Paid Family Leave Program (PFL), allows adult children who have regular jobs, to take time off to care for their family member. This program allows leave when caring for spouses and children as well. This time is limited to between four and twelve consecutive weeks. Some families with multiple siblings could take turns taking this leave program if they live in the same state. It could be an effective way of helping elderly parents. The caregiver would receive a large percentage of their salary and are legally protected from losing their health insurance and their jobs. Not all states have Paid Family Leave programs. Presently the following states participate in these programs: New York, New Jersey, California, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.
Some long-term insurance policies kick in but will not usually cover the entire cost of the caregiver. If there are other siblings, they must be told about the arrangement so there will be no hard feelings that one child is paid and not the others. The child caregiver also must be made aware that in certain instances, he or she will be liable to pay taxes on this income.
What about having your parent move into your home? It is known that moving a parent into your home is cheaper than moving them to an independent or assisted living facility. However, be aware of hidden expenses that will crop up.
Remodeling your home to make it handicap accessible can cost between thirty and one hundred- thousand dollars. According to Remodeling Magazine a new handicap accessible bathroom can cost more than thirty eight thousand dollars. An addition of a master suite could cost upward of one hundred thousand dollars. Whenever possible, it would pay to invest initially on a ground floor bedroom as opposed to settling your parent upstairs. Today your parent may be able to walk up and down the stairs but looking into the future you will have to install a custom stair lift which could cost you up to ten thousand dollars.
Regular living expenses that you take for granted will skyrocket once there is a senior citizen living in your midst. Your parent will need special diets, nutritional supplements, extra heat and electricity that were not used if you were working during the day. The same holds true for air conditioning in the summer. Medications are mainly covered by insurance. However, over the counter medications, such as calcium supplements are usually paid out of pocket.
The love of a child to their parent cannot be measured in dollars and cents. No matter what the cost, the child will be there for the person who raised him. If there are ways to make living together more pleasant then those methods should be utilized. With this attitude, these later and last years will be a time for bonding for you, your parents and the children living with you.
