Hello, I’m Christopher Lavin, an attorney with the Lavin Law Group. We are an elder law firm in Lebanon, Ohio. And a big portion of elder law is long term care or crisis planning.
And, long term care, that definition has grown over the years. It includes home health care, adult day care, hospice care, respite care, all the way up to full blown skilled or nursing home care. But more and more of assisted living is becoming an option for clients. And the assisted living communities are facilities have really extended the type of care they do provide, which has been a blessing. Because a lot of folks it’s a little more affordable for them and it’s maybe a little more social for them as well.
There are ways to pay for assisted living. Private pay is an option. Unfortunately, that’s not always available, and I think traditionally assisted living facilities are ranging from $3,000 a month to maybe $7,000 a month with full memory care. So it can be a little expensive. So one option is the VA, if available. There’s a program called the Veterans Aid and Attendants Pension, and that’s available for the spouse or the widow of the veteran.
That VA program can provide up to $2,200 a month in extra income. That may not solve the whole problem, but it does slow the drain or help slow the expense. Now, of course, you have to be a veteran and have particular service for that. So we’ll review that with your attorney or with the veteran service officer.
Another option is to have Medicaid. We’re fortunate in Ohio that Medicaid has an assisted living waiver option, license in Kentucky as well. And unfortunately in Kentucky, Kentucky does not have that Medicaid waiver option for assisted living. Now, when you apply for assisted living for Medicaid, you apply the same way you do for home health care, in the same way you do for full blown skilled or nursing home care.
So what I’m trying to say is that you have to be at the same resource level or the same eligibility level to qualify. That’s usually step one. Step two is a volunteer program for facilities in Ohio so they can implement their own policies. And you’ll find that most assisted living facilities will have a two year private pay requirement.
So we have to, you know, plan on that in the majority of the cases we work with. So we have to see if that’s an option. So I know it’s a nerve racking. The expenses do add up, but there are options out there through Medicaid, VA and a way to make sure that if you do run out of resources, that care can still be provided.