by Katherine Snow Smith
Contributor
Medicaid wants its elderly clients to be safe, but prefers they be safe in a financially efficient way. With that in mind, it benefits the government agency to keep aging clients living in their home instead of a long-term care facility.
Genworth, a Virginia-based provider of long-term care insurance, conducts an annual survey on the cost of care for seniors. The median price for one month in a private room in a nursing home in 2021 was $9,034. A semi-private room cost $7,908 a month.
To keep clients living at home longer — even once they need some assistance — all 50 states and the District of Columbia offer some kind of program through Medicaid that lets clients choose a family caregiver who is paid with Medicaid funds. In many states they can choose a friend or family member, often an adult child or spouse, to be their designated caregiver.
“The vast majority of older adults want to stay in their homes as they age, and allowing them to pay a friend or family member to help with their daily needs can make that possible,” said Susan Reinhard, senior vice president of AARP’s Public Policy Institute. “The pandemic provided a push for states to expand this option, and we hope many of them will make their policy changes permanent.
“Paying family caregivers is a solution that saves states money and meets the growing need for long-term care.”
Clients must show they need a certain level of care, and caregivers must show they are capable of providing that care. If the client needs medical care the loved one isn’t trained for, they cannot be designated as the caregiver.
The amount of money family caregivers are paid varies among states’ Medicaid programs, the level of care the individual needs and the average wage for a home health aide in each state. The programs that allow family caregivers to be paid also go by different names and have different caveats and benefits in each state:
Medicaid eligibility in general, not just for these programs and waivers, is not consistent across the country. A general rule of thumb as of 2021 is senior applicants can’t have more than $2,382 in income and $2,000 in assets.
State-specific eligibility can be found here. If a senior is already enrolled in Medicaid, the next step is contacting their state’s Medicaid office.
The American Council on Aging strongly recommends finding a Medicaid planner to help with applying for caregiver roles and other benefits.
Katherine Snow Smith is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She writes about ways to make money, save money and other topics. Her work has appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, Charlotte Business Journal and Greenville (S.C.) News.
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