You can look to many sources for help in paying for care. Some are public, while others are private or volunteer. The most common ways to pay for home care are as follows:

• personal and family resources
• private insurance
• Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Title programs
• community-based services

Because Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disease the type of care needed changes with time. You must consider the costs you face today as well as those you will face later on, as the dementia gets worse.

Assessment of Financial Resources

First, complete a personal financial resources assessment by doing the following steps:

• Look at current assets, where the care receiver's income comes from, and insurance entitlements.
• Prepare a budget and figure out what his future income might be from all sources.
• Confirm the qualifications, retirement benefits, and Social Security status of the person in your care.
• Figure as closely as possible the expenses of professional care and equipment. Include any medical procedures for other conditions likely to be needed.
• Check on the person's personal tax status and find out what care items and expenses are deductible.
• Find out if the person's health insurance or employer's workers' compensation policy has home health care benefits.
• Figure out how much money the person will need.
• If the person with AD doesn't have enough money to pay for care you may need to consider whether you can provide financial help.

NOTE. Think about making the person in your care a "dependent" and thus be able to transfer medical expenses to a taxpayer who can make use of medical deductions.

The cost of long-term care for a person with dementia can be very expensive. People often assume that government programs pay for care. In fact, individuals and families usually pay for care themselves. Advance planning can ease this burden.