Long Term Care... The Joys (And Tears)
Hi All,
New to this forum... ::waving hello::. Just thought I'd pass on some hard earned knowledge that may be helpful for others.
First off... lawdy it's been a rough week... er make that ummm... lessee... Jan to Aug... how many weeks is that? My brain can't compute! A bit of time... that'll work!
Mom's dementia's been going downhill since March when she had a foot of her small intestine taken out due to a blockage (add in a month ahead of that with back and forth to the ER and being admitted a week (for a week) before they kicked her out with a known blockage... and then told her to eat a normal diet... ::rolling eyes::). Pan to recovery of a week at the hospital, nursing home for 2 weeks recovery, and then back home.
Her blood pressure's been rollercoasting since then. They put her on Ziac, which dropped her heart rate through the floor and caused her to collapse at church and need to be taken to the ER, yet again (we should have just rented a room). So new meds, don't work, up the meds, work too well but now she has a racing heart rate, back to different meds, you get the picture. ::big sigh::
And then she got... SHINGLES! Yes, life needs to be more interesting. Of course I didn't know that was what it was when she first showed it to me. Treated it like a contact dermatitis (not using gloves of course). A day later... blisters... oh great... I didn't have chickenpox when I was a kid. Wonderful.
Hassle with convincing the docs to write the script so I can get the shot to hopefully stave it off... and then when I get it... find out I'm allergic and start wheezing. Do NOT follow my example of not listening to the nurses on going to the ER. It's not a good idea. But if you do do such a silly thing, make sure to take Benadryl, and then drive around to pick up your Mother's meds that she needs and food that you haven't been able to buy cause you've been dealing with all the other stuff (not the word I was thinking of but you know what I mean). You gotta make it worthwhile when you're being truly silly, eh?
Anywhosits... flash forward to last week. Mom's feeling sorta better (at least with the shingles... not with the heart meds) and I've finally hit the end of the proverbial rope with my health. Brick wall time. Having disabilities myself and an untreated (no health insurance) chronic case of Lyme has wiped me out to begin with and Mom's joy ride has put me under the table (without the usual fun associated with that situation).
So... we've come to the crux of the subject... LONG TERM CARE (dum dum dum... duuuuuum).
1st off, in theory, they're a great idea. In reality, YOU NEED TO KNOW A TON OF STUFF WAAAAAAAY BEFORE YOU EVEN CONTEMPLATE USING IT. Like (let's see if I can get this formatting to work correctly)
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When should you first submit a claim?
ANSWER - Whenever you might even vaguely suspect that your loved one needs help in any capacity whether you can do it yourself or not.
BECAUSE - there is usually a waiting period that you have to pay out of pocket for DAYS THAT CARE IS USED (translates to days you pay for, that they'll not cover). In our case it was a 90 days waiting period. That's not 90 days since her diagnosis (that's long past). Noooo... That's 90 days from when a claim is first filed for services you're paying out of pocket that they won't pay for. Have I confused you yet? Join the club! So, it boils down to you need to make a claim for a waiting period of out of pocket expenses before they know when to start the clock. If you're on a fixed income that can't foot that cost, you're in trouble. That's where the THEORY and REALITY hit you upside the head. Because they'll only cover certain levels of nursing certification if it's a private nurse (which guarantees it'll be expensive) and the CNA level aides that they'll accept from agencies generally won't book for less than 4 hrs a day, which guarantees it's expensive. Rock, hard place. Let's see... using the calculator... that's almost $9000 out of pocket before they start paying???? I MUST NOT THROW THE PHONE AGAINST THE WALL. BUT I WANNA!!!!!!
BUT WAIT!!! It get's even better. Not all clocks are the same. We are fortunate in that we have 2 policies (I insisted on that early on, thank heavens?). Anyway... one policy counts the clock as you use one day of service it takes off one day against your waiting period. That can be 1 hour of the day (if you can find a place that'll do that) or 24 (whichever you can pay out of your pocket for). That's the one policy. Then there are other policies that are more generous and say if you use just 1 day out of the week, that they'll count 7 days against that waiting period. So... one policy you'd have to have a total of 90 days of care. The other policy you'd be able to have a total of 12 days of care (once a week) for 12 weeks and your waiting period would be satisfied. Can you say, WHY THE HECK DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE????? My heart's started again! I can see a light! Now if I could only stop the waterworks!
But hold on, here's some even better news. The policies pay for adult day care as well as home care and that can apply against the waiting period. So the Alzheimer's program we have here that has a sliding scale fee and runs for 4 hrs a day, if she goes once a week she can start in on the claim's waiting period from that? YES!!!!! That's something we can budget! I can actually breathe now. Funny how you don't realize you've stopped doing that until you start doing it again.
I know by now I'm sounding like an infomercial (that's funny... Firefox didn't flag infomercial as being a misspelled word but it flagged Firefox) But... there's MOOOOORE!!! The insurance is going to kick in both policies immediately on this claim for the waiting period and NO MORE PREMIUMS NEED TO BE PAID ON THEM! That'll certainly help in the future (not as much as getting them to pay now but hey... every little penny, eh?).
Annnnnnnd.... once the waiting period for the initial policy has been satisfied and it starts paying out for the home health care, that'll start the clock to be applied to the other policy's waiting 90 day period (where it needs every day to count for every day). So... we're talking $420 out of pocket to satisfy the wait of the first 90 days of that one policy as opposed to the close to $9000 that would have been out of pocket on that other policy (4 hours/day @ $22/hr for 90 days). Now I'm doing tears of joy!! My heart's just not up to these emotional roller coasters anymore.
Soooooooo. The moral to this thriller is, know your policies. Apply REALLY early for the claims. If you can afford it, go for ones that have short waiting periods before they kick in. If that's not possible, find policies that are like the one that counts a day out of the week as being the whole week rather than you having to use each and every one of the 90 days of that waiting period. If you can do 2 policies, apply the claim on both at the same time so that they'll back to back on their waiting periods. And most importantly, keep plenty of tissues nearby while you're on the phone with the insurance company because they're sure to give you a ride you'll never forget!!
I am now off to feed Mom, the dogs, the kitties, and me (in that order of course) and then decide what kind of relaxation is gonna not give me too much of a regretting it in the morning feeling (gotta take Mom to the cardiologist 1st thing for her latest fun). Hope this lesson on Long Term Care is helpful and I'll keep you posted on the saga!
Hugs to everyone!
You are certainly a good writer....and explicit as well. I am sure a lot of folks have benefited from your info on the insurance stuff....I live in Grmany, so that is all different. I want to say though, that you sound like a wonderful, brave, intelligent person, and a feeling, thinking, and determined woman. With that combination, you will make it further than you might feel you can do just this moment. You hang in there kid, it will get getter....Charlotte
You are certainly a good writer....and explicit as well. I am sure a lot of folks have benefited from your info on the insurance stuff....I live in Grmany, so that is all different. I want to say though, that you sound like a wonderful, brave, intelligent person, and a feeling, thinking, and determined woman. With that combination, you will make it further than you might feel you can do just this moment. You hang in there kid, it will get getter....Charlotte
Thank you for the info. My mom has a LTC policy (only one though, as do I) so I'll be checking the rules. Please remember to take care of yourself. I, personally, do yoga. Keeps me fit and, most of the time, relaxed and able to deal with it all. Please keep posting.
Thank you for the info. My mom has a LTC policy (only one though, as do I) so I'll be checking the rules. Please remember to take care of yourself. I, personally, do yoga. Keeps me fit and, most of the time, relaxed and able to deal with it all. Please keep posting.
I am once again glad for the German health ins provisions. I have private ins here, white collar salaries must go private, so have to pay for everything first and then get reimbursed, but it covers everything a doc says to do too! Everything. I have had 5 heart catheterizations so just that in itself was a lot of money. Anyhow, for folks who earned blue collar wages, they pay a 10 euro quarterly fee, a small amount for prescriptions, and a small daily hospital stay bill. Cost 129 euros for a 3 week stay for my hubby ...they spent that long making a diagnosis for him. He gets Aricet for his AD and it costs us abut 6.50$ a quartile. I am hoping that the new ins for the states will have some provisions like the German type of healthcare. When I leave for Fl to see my son on his last days on earth, he has lung cancer, I can leave hubby alone. Nurses will come by twice a day to give him his meds, at no additional cost to me, check out that he is still functioning ok, and if not will call his house doctor who will have him sent to the hospital again until I return. My hubby can still function ok alone, but if my son continues to totally surprise his doctors who gave him less than 6 months over a year ago, he may not be able to function. I don't know, but am pretty sure I can put him in short term care for a reasonable cost. They do check our income and needs when someone needs long term care to be sure that we aren't sitting on a small fortune, before determining the cost of long term inhouse care. That is only fair though. Hey, for a bit of relaxing, try a nice hot bubble bath, turn on a radio or whatever and lean back and just let the smooth water run over your body...I usually take a book in too and that makes it very enjoyable short term relaxation...good luck,
I am once again glad for the German health ins provisions. I have private ins here, white collar salaries must go private, so have to pay for everything first and then get reimbursed, but it covers everything a doc says to do too! Everything. I have had 5 heart catheterizations so just that in itself was a lot of money. Anyhow, for folks who earned blue collar wages, they pay a 10 euro quarterly fee, a small amount for prescriptions, and a small daily hospital stay bill. Cost 129 euros for a 3 week stay for my hubby ...they spent that long making a diagnosis for him. He gets Aricet for his AD and it costs us abut 6.50$ a quartile. I am hoping that the new ins for the states will have some provisions like the German type of healthcare. When I leave for Fl to see my son on his last days on earth, he has lung cancer, I can leave hubby alone. Nurses will come by twice a day to give him his meds, at no additional cost to me, check out that he is still functioning ok, and if not will call his house doctor who will have him sent to the hospital again until I return. My hubby can still function ok alone, but if my son continues to totally surprise his doctors who gave him less than 6 months over a year ago, he may not be able to function. I don't know, but am pretty sure I can put him in short term care for a reasonable cost. They do check our income and needs when someone needs long term care to be sure that we aren't sitting on a small fortune, before determining the cost of long term inhouse care. That is only fair though. Hey, for a bit of relaxing, try a nice hot bubble bath, turn on a radio or whatever and lean back and just let the smooth water run over your body...I usually take a book in too and that makes it very enjoyable short term relaxation...good luck,
Don't take your netbook in the bath!
Don't take your netbook in the bath!
Hello All!
Well, life's looking a bit brighter. Hurricane Earl passed us by (after looking for the past couple of days like it was going to nail us good). And Mom's now going to be enrolled in a medical senior day care. We checked it out this past week. None of the participants were there at the time we stopped by but it looked very nice. They gave us a tour and explained everything thoroughly. It actually ended up being a better choice than what I'd originally looked into which was a social day care for people with AD. Both places would have qualified to be recognized by the LTC to start the 90 day waiting period clock ticking.
BUT the medical day care has a nurse on site at all times (which is good as her blood pressure is still a bit uppsy downsy and needs to be checked during the day)
AND they have a wide range of people attending so it won't be just AD individuals but people who have perfectly fine cognition but due to stroke or diabetes, they physically need some help through the day (since Mom has Lewey Body Dementia which means she has really good days at times... that's great for her to try to keep those braincells engaged as long as possible).
AND the center also serves both breakfast and lunch as part of the fee.
AND EVEN BETTER they have a medical transport van which can pick up and drop off as part of the daily fee (or if I feel I need her to stay a bit longer, they are open from 8 to 4 for self pickup).
BUT THE MOST ABSOLUTE BESTEST PART IS that they had a grant that she qualified for that dropped her cost to 10% of the daily fee of $75. So she's only going to be paying $7.50/day for all of that! I couldn't stop telling the lady I loved her after I heard all of it. I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad that the other option fell through. Heck, in hindsight I'm extremely glad all this stuff happened to have finally evolved around to where we're at now. We're getting her doctors to fill out her paperwork for the daycare and the insurance company and she's going to be starting next week. YAY!!
On another great side note, I saw one of those Hugo Rollator walkers in Sam's Club this past week and it was only $114 (it's the elite version). As Mom's balance has been a big issue lately, I was looking for an option that wasn't too expensive that worked better than the old fashioned walker she was using. I talked with Medicare and they said they'd cover some and possibly all of the cost for it if I sent them the form they had online, a doctor's prescription for the walker, and a copy of the receipt.
The form is cms1490s-english-instructions-DME.pdf
http://www.cms.gov/cmsforms/downloads/cms1490s-english-instructions-DME.pdf
It's a pretty nice unit with lots of storage on the handles, a seat with storage under it for her purse, and is fairly lightweight so I can pretty easily lift it into the back of the car (a big factor as her wheelchair weighs a ton and my back's not up to that one without a ramp). She's been using it all week and let me tell you, I hadn't realized just how stressed I was about her walking until I didn't have to watch her like a hawk all the time and could let her walk at her own pace. I still have to remind her to use the brakes but boy is it a relief not to have to hover so much, for her as well as for me. Amazing how something so simple can stress us both so much.
As to my stress front, this past week has been a really rough one for muscle spasms and naaaaasty migraines which didn't want to go away even with my meds. So I decided to google what massage therapists were in the area. I found one that offered half hour sessions of Swedish Massage and on impulse I booked her for that day. Oh was that woooooooonderful!! I'm going to be scrimping pennies to make sure I go to her at least twice a month. I mentioned your suggestion Yellowrose, and she's looking into finding a yoga instructor that knows how to accommodate all the disability issues I have. I'm hopeful I'll be able to get some relief on that end to. I have my eyes crossed that it works as well for me as it does for you! Thank you for the suggestion.
Anyway... that's it for the moment. Hope every one of you are doing well! Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement!!
PS
Charlotte... I very much hope your son keeps blowing away those doctors' predictions!! You'll both be in my prayers to continue to prove that doctors don't know everything!
PPS Baths are great... unless you haven't scrubbed the tub recently and you cringe a bit to use it. But on an aside, I just ran across a site (that offers non-toxic ways to clean and get rid of really annoying fruit flies ( http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-House ) and they suggested using dish washing liquid to get rid of nasty tub scum. I'll keep you posted on how well that works!
Hello All!
Well, life's looking a bit brighter. Hurricane Earl passed us by (after looking for the past couple of days like it was going to nail us good). And Mom's now going to be enrolled in a medical senior day care. We checked it out this past week. None of the participants were there at the time we stopped by but it looked very nice. They gave us a tour and explained everything thoroughly. It actually ended up being a better choice than what I'd originally looked into which was a social day care for people with AD. Both places would have qualified to be recognized by the LTC to start the 90 day waiting period clock ticking.
BUT the medical day care has a nurse on site at all times (which is good as her blood pressure is still a bit uppsy downsy and needs to be checked during the day)
AND they have a wide range of people attending so it won't be just AD individuals but people who have perfectly fine cognition but due to stroke or diabetes, they physically need some help through the day (since Mom has Lewey Body Dementia which means she has really good days at times... that's great for her to try to keep those braincells engaged as long as possible).
AND the center also serves both breakfast and lunch as part of the fee.
AND EVEN BETTER they have a medical transport van which can pick up and drop off as part of the daily fee (or if I feel I need her to stay a bit longer, they are open from 8 to 4 for self pickup).
BUT THE MOST ABSOLUTE BESTEST PART IS that they had a grant that she qualified for that dropped her cost to 10% of the daily fee of $75. So she's only going to be paying $7.50/day for all of that! I couldn't stop telling the lady I loved her after I heard all of it. I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad that the other option fell through. Heck, in hindsight I'm extremely glad all this stuff happened to have finally evolved around to where we're at now. We're getting her doctors to fill out her paperwork for the daycare and the insurance company and she's going to be starting next week. YAY!!
On another great side note, I saw one of those Hugo Rollator walkers in Sam's Club this past week and it was only $114 (it's the elite version). As Mom's balance has been a big issue lately, I was looking for an option that wasn't too expensive that worked better than the old fashioned walker she was using. I talked with Medicare and they said they'd cover some and possibly all of the cost for it if I sent them the form they had online, a doctor's prescription for the walker, and a copy of the receipt.
The form is cms1490s-english-instructions-DME.pdf
http://www.cms.gov/cmsforms/downloads/cms1490s-english-instructions-DME.pdf
It's a pretty nice unit with lots of storage on the handles, a seat with storage under it for her purse, and is fairly lightweight so I can pretty easily lift it into the back of the car (a big factor as her wheelchair weighs a ton and my back's not up to that one without a ramp). She's been using it all week and let me tell you, I hadn't realized just how stressed I was about her walking until I didn't have to watch her like a hawk all the time and could let her walk at her own pace. I still have to remind her to use the brakes but boy is it a relief not to have to hover so much, for her as well as for me. Amazing how something so simple can stress us both so much.
As to my stress front, this past week has been a really rough one for muscle spasms and naaaaasty migraines which didn't want to go away even with my meds. So I decided to google what massage therapists were in the area. I found one that offered half hour sessions of Swedish Massage and on impulse I booked her for that day. Oh was that woooooooonderful!! I'm going to be scrimping pennies to make sure I go to her at least twice a month. I mentioned your suggestion Yellowrose, and she's looking into finding a yoga instructor that knows how to accommodate all the disability issues I have. I'm hopeful I'll be able to get some relief on that end to. I have my eyes crossed that it works as well for me as it does for you! Thank you for the suggestion.
Anyway... that's it for the moment. Hope every one of you are doing well! Thank you all so much for the kind words and encouragement!!
PS
Charlotte... I very much hope your son keeps blowing away those doctors' predictions!! You'll both be in my prayers to continue to prove that doctors don't know everything!
PPS Baths are great... unless you haven't scrubbed the tub recently and you cringe a bit to use it. But on an aside, I just ran across a site (that offers non-toxic ways to clean and get rid of really annoying fruit flies ( http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-House ) and they suggested using dish washing liquid to get rid of nasty tub scum. I'll keep you posted on how well that works!
MarylandGal And you have kept your sense of humor! Great material for "stand up"! You need to get your script to someone! There is a gal in NC ~ the person who did a great take on bungee jumping, and River Rafting with Baptists. Perhaps you know of her. She's a senior, speaks to seniors.
You my dear have literally been through the mill! (Correction, are going through the mill!) Promise me, tomorrow, you will feed yourself FIRST! the change in routine will do you a world of good! Know that many of us have you in our prayers. (The huge part of our prayer is Oh God, please don't let this happen to me!) <+><
MarylandGal And you have kept your sense of humor! Great material for "stand up"! You need to get your script to someone! There is a gal in NC ~ the person who did a great take on bungee jumping, and River Rafting with Baptists. Perhaps you know of her. She's a senior, speaks to seniors.
You my dear have literally been through the mill! (Correction, are going through the mill!) Promise me, tomorrow, you will feed yourself FIRST! the change in routine will do you a world of good! Know that many of us have you in our prayers. (The huge part of our prayer is Oh God, please don't let this happen to me!) <+><
Another LTC note - you do NOT have to be paying anyone for any help if you do not have to--you just have the waiting period. We didn't know that and at the time I had my brother here for a month. Mom's waiting period was 20 days (and note that is lifetime-when went to reuse again after coming off another waiting period did not apply) and they counted 4 days of a week towards 7 days so we really only had to wait 17 days. NOWHERE in the policy are these details explained. I got the explanation from the Home Health Care Aide Service and the insurance AGENT who sold us the policy--not John Hancock. I also found out that durable medical goods were paid for without effecting the daily limit paid to health aide/assted living or nursing home AND that any handicapped improvements to my home(mom lives with me)were also covered. We were able to repave and widen the driveway and ramp it up to the front porch, remodel and retrofit a bathroom and new tile floor. So check all of this out. I was amazed. Also if she stopped using it for 6 months she got all of her benefits back (she only has a 3 year policy). Note- they have to say she no longer needs an aide-you can't just stop and pay someone yourself for 6 months then get back on insurance.
The big point is all policies are different, the policy doesn't really tell you each and everything covered. Ask ask ask!
Another LTC note - you do NOT have to be paying anyone for any help if you do not have to--you just have the waiting period. We didn't know that and at the time I had my brother here for a month. Mom's waiting period was 20 days (and note that is lifetime-when went to reuse again after coming off another waiting period did not apply) and they counted 4 days of a week towards 7 days so we really only had to wait 17 days. NOWHERE in the policy are these details explained. I got the explanation from the Home Health Care Aide Service and the insurance AGENT who sold us the policy--not John Hancock. I also found out that durable medical goods were paid for without effecting the daily limit paid to health aide/assted living or nursing home AND that any handicapped improvements to my home(mom lives with me)were also covered. We were able to repave and widen the driveway and ramp it up to the front porch, remodel and retrofit a bathroom and new tile floor. So check all of this out. I was amazed. Also if she stopped using it for 6 months she got all of her benefits back (she only has a 3 year policy). Note- they have to say she no longer needs an aide-you can't just stop and pay someone yourself for 6 months then get back on insurance.
The big point is all policies are different, the policy doesn't really tell you each and everything covered. Ask ask ask!
Marylandgirl You sound like a most wonderfull daughter we all shud be so luky and still have a good sens of humer to thank you, you helped a lot will think of you a lot
Marylandgirl You sound like a most wonderfull daughter we all shud be so luky and still have a good sens of humer to thank you, you helped a lot will think of you a lot
Wow! Thank you for those gems, Latanak. I will definitely be looking into that on the remodeling. Right now I've been doing it myself on the railings in and out of the house and I was contemplating making a ramp out the front door. I've built a couple of substantial ramps already so it wouldn't have been a big deal but good to know I could possibly get that paid for thru the policy. I was really amazed at how expensive materials for a 4 foot ramp ended up costing and that was only to get a lawnmower out of the building (thank goodness Lowe's cuts wood at the store).
I'm a bit confused tho as to part of your post about the not paying for help if you don't have to, just that you have the waiting period. Would you please explain that one a bit more as to what you experienced? The impression I've been getting from CNA is that a qualified service had to be utilized to start the clock ticking. Ergo, you had to pay for something (or Medicare did if the person was undergoing care that way) to actually start the waiting period. You couldn't just apply for a claim to start without actually using a service of some sort.
I'm going to check in next week to see about retroactively starting the clock back when Mom was having her intestine issues to see if that can apply against the 90 days and shorten the wait a bit. Not sure if it will work out but I'll be giving it the "ol' college try". Have I said lately how much I hate dealing with bureaucracies? If I haven't, I do.
BTW... not to go too offtopic but does anyone know a good way to kill fruit flies without endangering pets? My new "houseguests" have obviously taken the "go forth and multiply" a little too much to heart and when they and I are fighting over who gets to eat my dinner first... it's war time and I won't be taking any prisoners!!
Wow! Thank you for those gems, Latanak. I will definitely be looking into that on the remodeling. Right now I've been doing it myself on the railings in and out of the house and I was contemplating making a ramp out the front door. I've built a couple of substantial ramps already so it wouldn't have been a big deal but good to know I could possibly get that paid for thru the policy. I was really amazed at how expensive materials for a 4 foot ramp ended up costing and that was only to get a lawnmower out of the building (thank goodness Lowe's cuts wood at the store).
I'm a bit confused tho as to part of your post about the not paying for help if you don't have to, just that you have the waiting period. Would you please explain that one a bit more as to what you experienced? The impression I've been getting from CNA is that a qualified service had to be utilized to start the clock ticking. Ergo, you had to pay for something (or Medicare did if the person was undergoing care that way) to actually start the waiting period. You couldn't just apply for a claim to start without actually using a service of some sort.
I'm going to check in next week to see about retroactively starting the clock back when Mom was having her intestine issues to see if that can apply against the 90 days and shorten the wait a bit. Not sure if it will work out but I'll be giving it the "ol' college try". Have I said lately how much I hate dealing with bureaucracies? If I haven't, I do.
BTW... not to go too offtopic but does anyone know a good way to kill fruit flies without endangering pets? My new "houseguests" have obviously taken the "go forth and multiply" a little too much to heart and when they and I are fighting over who gets to eat my dinner first... it's war time and I won't be taking any prisoners!!
MDGAL that was 4 years and 7 surgeries ago--so I might be off on that. I do know that we ended up paying when we could have waited in some way.
I am from MD before FL-all my kids were born there my son still lives up there.
MDGAL that was 4 years and 7 surgeries ago--so I might be off on that. I do know that we ended up paying when we could have waited in some way.
I am from MD before FL-all my kids were born there my son still lives up there.
MarylandGal and others, thank you for the advice on LTC. I plan to shop for myself again soon. I applied for change of life insurance two years ago, while I was still in my 50s. They denied me due to health problems, but couldn't tell ME what health problems due to the PRIVACY ACT! They apparently expected I would die soon and they would have to pay. The "good news" is that LTC also denied me. That means they expect me to live awhile!! I have average health issues for my age. After a period of desperation in locating care for my dad, I realized I need to follow-up on getting coverage. BTW--Any veteran who has served one day during a period of declared war, can APPLY for aid and attendance. They consider assets and income, but subtract medical expenses from the income. Since he was going in the hole every month, he was FINALLY found eligible. The benefit is upto $1600 per month for care facility. Still going in the hole but not as deep.
MarylandGal and others, thank you for the advice on LTC. I plan to shop for myself again soon. I applied for change of life insurance two years ago, while I was still in my 50s. They denied me due to health problems, but couldn't tell ME what health problems due to the PRIVACY ACT! They apparently expected I would die soon and they would have to pay. The "good news" is that LTC also denied me. That means they expect me to live awhile!! I have average health issues for my age. After a period of desperation in locating care for my dad, I realized I need to follow-up on getting coverage. BTW--Any veteran who has served one day during a period of declared war, can APPLY for aid and attendance. They consider assets and income, but subtract medical expenses from the income. Since he was going in the hole every month, he was FINALLY found eligible. The benefit is upto $1600 per month for care facility. Still going in the hole but not as deep.
Hi Md.gal, My gramma lived in Balto when I lived outside of Philly, so can identify wth MD...re the hedaches. My daughter suffers from them due to TMJ...jaw joint problems make horrific headaches...and we both have cervical spinal area problems.. We use a TENS machine...a sort of funny direct massage. It can be great for headaches, especially migraines and those from TMJ, not always, but often...The contacts are also great when placed on the neck muscles....relaxes them. Re massage, I now go to what is referred to as manual massage. In some way it does not even feel like a massage, that is the muscles don't get "squeezed" and then relaxed, instead there is just a sort of laying of the hands on specific areas..Once when they were rubbing my forehead , I could "see" the inside of my eye sockets and such...weird for a minute by wow the goodie feelings after wards...ask the therapist if she know about manual massage....I know the name sounds funny....
Hi Md.gal, My gramma lived in Balto when I lived outside of Philly, so can identify wth MD...re the hedaches. My daughter suffers from them due to TMJ...jaw joint problems make horrific headaches...and we both have cervical spinal area problems.. We use a TENS machine...a sort of funny direct massage. It can be great for headaches, especially migraines and those from TMJ, not always, but often...The contacts are also great when placed on the neck muscles....relaxes them. Re massage, I now go to what is referred to as manual massage. In some way it does not even feel like a massage, that is the muscles don't get "squeezed" and then relaxed, instead there is just a sort of laying of the hands on specific areas..Once when they were rubbing my forehead , I could "see" the inside of my eye sockets and such...weird for a minute by wow the goodie feelings after wards...ask the therapist if she know about manual massage....I know the name sounds funny....
Howdy all!
Well, the LTC company has been dragging their feet lately. Until they get ALL of the information, the clock doesn't start ticking and part of that process is for them to contact the medical day care facility to verify that the center's credentials fall within the guidelines of the policy requirements. I'd called the LTC earlier this week to make sure that they called the correct daycare (the medical one not the social one) and I made sure that the lady I spoke with understood who exactly they were supposed to be calling. I talked to the daycare Fri. morning and found out that the LTC hadn't contacted the center. So I called the LTC again and lo and behold, they'd canceled out the contact request for both of the daycares (which needless to say was not what I'd instructed them to do) and had dropped the ball entirely. While I understand from a business standpoint that the more they drag their feet, the longer it is before they'll have to pay, it's still extremely annoying (to say the least) on our end to have to deal with these silly dance steps. It's really quite sad that I'm now prefacing so many of my conversations with them with "I'm not angry with you but I am angry with the situation and this needs to be corrected NOW!!!" It shouldn't be that way but it seems like this is what we expect from an insurance company rather than that they'll quickly and reliably help find the best solution for their customers. It's almost as if whatever type of insurance company you deal with nowadays, that the standard operating procedure is to put you through a rat maze of screwups and/or denials just to see if you'll give up and leave them alone with your money. ::sigh:: Capitalism definitely has it's drawbacks at times.
Anyway... I talked to them about the paperwork for Mom's previous admissions and hopefully once I get all of that in to them, they'll apply those times against her 90 days and we'll get that shortened a bit.
I also asked them about the remodeling expense of doing a front door ramp. They indicated that while she's not eligible at this stage for a reimbursement of the expense, that if the ramp costs, as an example, $1500 to build, it would apply against her daily amount of $150/day so they'd divide the cost of the ramp by the daily amount and take off the equivalent number of days from the waiting period. So that example would come out to 10 days off of the 90 day waiting period making it only 80 days. I'm not certain she knew exactly what she was looking at in the policy so I get to do some "light reading" this weekend to verify what she said. Hopefully wading through all that legalese doesn't prompt additional migraines (altho I'm not going to hold my breath on that one). I'm going to check on Mon to see if her Medicare benefits might cover any of the costs of a ramp and I'm going to see if Maryland has a program that would pay some (possibly all) of the costs for remodeling to accommodate a person's disabilities (I remember running across that somewhere but can't find it now). I'm also going to check to see if her supplemental insurance might cover some of that cost. I'll keep y'all posted!
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Hugz to everyone!!
Howdy all!
Well, the LTC company has been dragging their feet lately. Until they get ALL of the information, the clock doesn't start ticking and part of that process is for them to contact the medical day care facility to verify that the center's credentials fall within the guidelines of the policy requirements. I'd called the LTC earlier this week to make sure that they called the correct daycare (the medical one not the social one) and I made sure that the lady I spoke with understood who exactly they were supposed to be calling. I talked to the daycare Fri. morning and found out that the LTC hadn't contacted the center. So I called the LTC again and lo and behold, they'd canceled out the contact request for both of the daycares (which needless to say was not what I'd instructed them to do) and had dropped the ball entirely. While I understand from a business standpoint that the more they drag their feet, the longer it is before they'll have to pay, it's still extremely annoying (to say the least) on our end to have to deal with these silly dance steps. It's really quite sad that I'm now prefacing so many of my conversations with them with "I'm not angry with you but I am angry with the situation and this needs to be corrected NOW!!!" It shouldn't be that way but it seems like this is what we expect from an insurance company rather than that they'll quickly and reliably help find the best solution for their customers. It's almost as if whatever type of insurance company you deal with nowadays, that the standard operating procedure is to put you through a rat maze of screwups and/or denials just to see if you'll give up and leave them alone with your money. ::sigh:: Capitalism definitely has it's drawbacks at times.
Anyway... I talked to them about the paperwork for Mom's previous admissions and hopefully once I get all of that in to them, they'll apply those times against her 90 days and we'll get that shortened a bit.
I also asked them about the remodeling expense of doing a front door ramp. They indicated that while she's not eligible at this stage for a reimbursement of the expense, that if the ramp costs, as an example, $1500 to build, it would apply against her daily amount of $150/day so they'd divide the cost of the ramp by the daily amount and take off the equivalent number of days from the waiting period. So that example would come out to 10 days off of the 90 day waiting period making it only 80 days. I'm not certain she knew exactly what she was looking at in the policy so I get to do some "light reading" this weekend to verify what she said. Hopefully wading through all that legalese doesn't prompt additional migraines (altho I'm not going to hold my breath on that one). I'm going to check on Mon to see if her Medicare benefits might cover any of the costs of a ramp and I'm going to see if Maryland has a program that would pay some (possibly all) of the costs for remodeling to accommodate a person's disabilities (I remember running across that somewhere but can't find it now). I'm also going to check to see if her supplemental insurance might cover some of that cost. I'll keep y'all posted!
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Hugz to everyone!!
Well, I can now attest that while using dish washing liquid may clean the tub enough to eat off of it, it sure as heck doesn't make it sparkle. Seemed to help a tad on the shower doors but not so much on the tub itself. I think I'm going to let that task be done by the cleaning crew I'm going to have come in next week. That'll be one less house cleaning I have to deal with. But for the while at least I don't cringe to consider taking a bath in it. Now if only I could get the Doberman to stop adding to my current housecleaning overload and get him to stop peeing in his crate and soaking his bed every day (older dog with bladder problems... not a good combo and boy does he have a big bladder). At this rate, he may need diapers soon. I'm counting my blessings that at least Mom's not doing that too. That reminds me... need to get a waterproof mattress cover before we get to that stage with her. Unlike a dog bed, mattresses just don't fit in washing machines very well and I don't want that to be an "I wished I'd taken care of that BEFORE the bed got drenched" situation.
No new news on the LTC or the ramp cost assistance (still gathering paperwork on the LTC and researching on the ramp). Will update hopefully beginning of next week.
Hugz to y'all!
Well, I can now attest that while using dish washing liquid may clean the tub enough to eat off of it, it sure as heck doesn't make it sparkle. Seemed to help a tad on the shower doors but not so much on the tub itself. I think I'm going to let that task be done by the cleaning crew I'm going to have come in next week. That'll be one less house cleaning I have to deal with. But for the while at least I don't cringe to consider taking a bath in it. Now if only I could get the Doberman to stop adding to my current housecleaning overload and get him to stop peeing in his crate and soaking his bed every day (older dog with bladder problems... not a good combo and boy does he have a big bladder). At this rate, he may need diapers soon. I'm counting my blessings that at least Mom's not doing that too. That reminds me... need to get a waterproof mattress cover before we get to that stage with her. Unlike a dog bed, mattresses just don't fit in washing machines very well and I don't want that to be an "I wished I'd taken care of that BEFORE the bed got drenched" situation.
No new news on the LTC or the ramp cost assistance (still gathering paperwork on the LTC and researching on the ramp). Will update hopefully beginning of next week.
Hugz to y'all!