New Every Day by Dave Meurer

Author:Dave Meurer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Health/Aging;Alzheimer’s disease—Religious aspects;Alzheimer’s disease—Patients—Home care;Alzheimer’s disease—Patients—Family relationships;REL012030;HEA039140
ISBN: 9781493415069
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

*He lived 969 years.

seventeen

Medicare and Medicaid—How They Will and Won’t Help

General rule:

Medicare does not pay for long-term care or assisted living.

Medicaid often pays for long-term care and assisted living.

But a boatload of caveats has now pulled up to the dock, and we need to commence unloading them. By the time we are done unpacking and stacking all the rules, qualifications, waivers, eligibility criteria, and all manner of other guidelines, you will need an adult beverage on the rocks or a glass of warm milk and a nap.

I was tempted to shorten this chapter to this one sentence: “Check with your county social service office to see if your loved one qualifies for help with in-home care, long-term care, or assisted living.” That is because Medicaid is a state and federal partnership, and one size does not fit all. Different states have their own variations in the Medicaid program.

Medicaid has become such a complex program that the US Department of Health and Human Services included this sentence in a report: “Medicaid now offers so many options for providing home and community services that they can be confusing for policymakers, state officials, advocates, and consumers alike.”1

Yes, your government finds its own program to be baffling. However, they do wish you well as you seek to sort it all out.

California doesn’t even call it Medicaid, because years ago someone decided it would be extremely clever to call it something else.

Stan: “Hey Norm, let’s get the California legislature to rename the Medicaid program Medi-Cal!”

Norm: “Why?”

Stan: “Look how ingenious it is to combine ‘medical’ and ‘California!’ You get Medi-Cal. Get it? Get it? No other state can do this! Connecticut would end up with ‘Medi-Con’ and North Dakota would be ‘Medi-No.’ We’re unique in being able to do this!”

Norm: “Won’t that just confuse the people who are trying to sign up for it?”

Stan: “That’s beside the point. This is about being adroit with the English language.”

Norm: “But we’ll have to change a ton of forms, brochures, signs, phone listings, decals, letterheads, and that kind of thing. It’ll cost a fortune and be a paperwork nightmare, and it’s completely unnecessary.”

Stan: “We’ll probably have to hire a new army of bureaucrats to implement it. Our department will grow overnight.”

Norm: “Why didn’t you say so to begin with? Awesome idea, Stan!”

I refuse to play along with this silliness, so if you live in California, just understand that I am including Medi-Cal when I discuss Medicaid.

Let’s first review the broad differences between Medicare and Medicaid.

The first big difference is that, generally speaking, Medicare is age-based and Medicaid is income-based.

Warren Buffet is so rich he can purchase the entire state of Nebraska (and may have already done so), but he qualifies for Medicare. Bill Gates is worth somewhere in the vicinity of $85 billion, and it is therefore unlikely that he struggles to pay for an annual prostate exam. Doesn’t matter. The minute he turns sixty-five, he is eligible for Medicare. Indeed, he will have to fill out a form

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