My mom has had Medicare/Medicaid for the last 20 years.
She’s 83.
She was initially sent to rehab for PT after she had fell (her 3rd time) @ home.
After a month of no progress, doctor examined her & said she wouldn’t be able to go back home in her condition & would require 24hr skilled care.
So they moved her to the NH part of the facility.
She is unaware that she is now living in the nh for good w/no prospect of returning home.
I’m her POA so I had to deal w/admissions & when the administrator spoke to me last month she explained how Social Security would be going to the NH & leave my mom w/$30 a month in her checking account.
My mom gets a total of $770 a month Social Security & SSI.
In the meantime I’ve had to pay my mom’s bills (for her house, gas, electric, homeowners insurance, etc) w/her money & by the end of the month I know her property taxes will be due & their going to be around $1000.
So far my mom’s checking balance is what it would be nonrally after paying her bills, however I’m concerned w/when Medicaid will start taking her $ because then I won’t be able to pay any more of her bills & then she’s going to be in trouble by not paying & plus not paying the prop tax will be really bad.
My mom does NOT know at this point that the house is going to need to be sold.
She still thinks she’s going to “get stronger” to be able to go back home..
She has breast cancer, dementia (just starting according to the psych doc) and a bunch of other things (osteoporosis, spinal degeneration) that are causing her too much pain to be able to walk by herself.
But as of the day that she applied for or transitioned to LTC NH Medicaid, she is REQUIRED to have all her monthly income- like her SS - be paid to the NH as her copay or SOC (share of cost). The facility has told you this. That $770 each mo less the $30 (her personal needs allowance) should be / must be paid to the NH. So every mo NH gets paid $740. In order for her to be within compliance for Medicaid that monthly income must be paid.
If she’s been out of rehab and in the LTC part of the NH for May & June, she owes $1,460 as her copay.
Often a NH is made their representative payee, so the NH directly gets her SS/SSDI and the $30 is set aside in a Trust fund account at her / DPOAs disposal at the NH.
But it sounds like that didn’t happen and her SS/SSDI is still going to her bank account. And you are using that $ to pay her bills and not doing the NH copay. That’s it, isn’t it? This cannot happen under Medicaid rules. It could be viewed as a breach of the required fiduciary duty required of a DPOA and cause APS to get involved.
Medicaid has no concern about debts.
Medicaid is all about income and assets.
Either you or other family will need to pay her property costs & other bills or she defaults on them. That is the harsh reality of Medicaid. The $740 to the NH must be paid. Otherwise she’s out of compliance for Medicaid and can be suspended. Or the NH as they have not been paid can issue her a 30 day notice to move out or they contact APS to get her made a ward of the state as her DPOA (you) is not doing the copay. Really you don’t want APS to get involved.....
Isn’t it the situation that she has a reverse mortgage? Why not have them take over dealing with the house. She needs to stay in the facility to get the care needed. She cannot find herself ineligible for medicaid because you did not follow the rules.