What’s up everybody, it’s Steve “The Hurricane” and on today’s episode of A Drink With The Hurricane, we’re gonna talk about seven different ways that seniors pay for home care, cheers.
Alright, my friends. So first things first, I got to tell you, I am so excited right now because this is the first time I’m ever filming A Drink With The Hurricane episode in my new office. It has been a long time coming since this expansion. We started this process back in February, and it wasn’t till last week July 24th, that we actually moved into our new office and this, my six foot wall hurricane arrived like 30 minutes ago, so I can get these film sessions in for you.
Second thing I wanna do folks is just touch base and let you know about the Virtual Boot Camp. I know the struggles that you’re facing because many of my clients are facing them. However, they are overcoming these challenges such as operating during a pandemic and trying to market during a lockdown and how to scale and get caregivers. All of these things people are facing, and my clients are thriving right now. And so, as a result of this, I wanna help you by having you attend an all new virtual bootcamp, the 17th and 18th of September, it is going to be all new topics on how to scale and grow your home care business during this COVID pandemic. And so that’s for you, you can buy tickets now, early bird comes with a bunch of bonus items, take advantage of it. So now, as we’re talking about payer sources, I’m gonna actually turn it over to one of my friends, one of my power partners that I do a lot of business with Cheryl Hammons, from Veteran’s Care Coordination. And she’s gonna talk about the different payer sources for the seniors looking for care. So Cheryl, take it away.
Thank you Steve. You know we’ve heard a lot lately, home is the safest place to be. We’ve been saying that for years, haven’t we. Home is where most seniors want to age in place, but the question becomes, is it affordable?
I wanna talk about seven ways seniors pay for home care. The first one is private pay, that’s the one everyone wants, and there’s some risk involved there. Private pay the money can go away. You can have the senior pay all themselves or family members pay individually. But what happens when the money starts going away, what do they do? It’s important for you to have conversations with your families and seniors, for them to have sort of a backup plan for a time when maybe private pay is not an option any longer.
The second thing you can talk about is annuities. Annuities are ways of turning retirement plans into monthly income that can pay for home care.
The next one is longterm care insurance. Originally that was considered a nursing home policy. More modern day policies cover in home care and can be paid out either per day or per month.
The next one we wanna talk about is Medicaid waivers. Medicaid has a program through waivers for seniors who could stay at home that otherwise without these income care services would have to be in a facility. They are not technically Medicaid, but they are funded by Medicaid. These waivers can be all over the board with different types of rates. So please check in your state to see what your reimbursement rate would be, and if it’s a good choice for you.
The next one is Medicare Advantage. This is new to the list. Medicare Advantage has about 223 plans that cover about a million beneficiaries in 30 States. This allows a benefit for people to stay in-home with in-home care. Check with your local Medicare Advantage Plans to see if they cover in-home care and always ask that question when you’re having an in home consultation, if they have Medicare Advantage, and if that possibly is a benefit that they can take advantage of.
And the last one which is most dear to my heart to, is the pension with aid and attendance. This is for war time veterans who have spent at least 90 days of active duty, and one day during a war time who have limited income. This is a lifetime benefit and can help pay for home care. There is a risk involved though, if the benefit is not managed properly, the veteran can be disqualified or penalized.
That’s where VCC really comes in and shines. We do a great job through our client care team to make sure that veterans are managing their benefit properly and they can keep it for as long as they need it. This is a benefit not only to the client, but to the home care agency too, so that they can keep the client as long as possible.
Knowing these ways to pay for home care is a great way to prepare your family and your clients for a longterm care with you. This allows them to age in place for as long as they need it.
