My mom is 71 and has been having some health issues. She just got out of the hospital. She has trouble walking and she had hospital delirium. She is also incontinent. She currently has Medicare, but I don’t know if she can also get disability benefits as well.
Now depending on your moms income and assets, she may be eligible for Medicaid.
Do you mean that mom is on Medicaid?
I assume she gets Social Security. Have you looked into applying for SSI?
Here is a good link:
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-other-ussi.htm
I got laid off from my SF Goodwill job from the Covid pandemic in Sep. 2020, forcing me to start Medicare at 65. Since I was born in 1955, I had to wait 14 more months until age 66.2 for full Social Security benefits. Fortunately, I got pandemic funds with unemployment insurance and worked two additional jobs to get to my
SSA timeframe.
Employers to me were no longer friendly environments for me and caused me too much stress. Too bad I was forced out of that Goodwill job with my former employer's covered health insurance that could have saved me money until I retired at full benefits age instead of getting laid off from work during the 2020 Covid pandemic. After losing my employer's benefits with no other health insurance coverage available at the time, I had to start Medicare Part B and Medicare Advantage the month I turned 65, 14 months before full SS age, forcing me to work two additional jobs until just long enough to close the income gap until full SS started.
Once you are out of a job and age 65, you must start Medicare, even if you start another job soon after to avoid health insurance gaps to avoid penalty, and my next job was only temporary holiday work for 3 months but without benefits. The last job came right after the temporary work that offered benefits I could not use since I already had Medicare.
If you are looking for assistance both financial and care it will depend largely on the state you (she) lives in, many have all kinds of assistance for seniors wether they qualify for Medicaid or not bus aside from SNAP (food assistance) it will either pay directly for the assistance or reimburse like housing and or utility assistance not simply give her an income. Medicaid while living in the community does not take her SS income but of course is dependent on how much that income is.
It can seem like an overwhelming maze but once you get the lay of the land and I would suggest contacting the Department or Agency of Aging in your state to start, they should give you some guidance at least, it isn’t as bad as it looks. Just remain focused and ask everyone you come in contact with, doctors offices, discharge coordinators (maybe late for that), rehab, sounds like she came home direct from hospital rather than to residential rehab not sure why but they must have set up in home rehab who will send out someone to asses her needs and that person is a good one to ask these questions of. Pick their brain!
You do not mention your mother's actual diagnosis; I mention this as depending on what it is you may want to look into what specific diagnosis groups offer ( for example some grants are sometimes available via specific illness groups ( i.e. Alz, Cancer, etc etc). These grants can help at times with caregiving expenses in home etc.
Contact your local Center on Aging for potential referrals; find a competent case manager via the hospital referral or PCP referral and/ or consider conferring with an Elder Law Attorney about financial and on going care options, choices, accountability, responsibility etc.
Be sure that the legal documents are in place such as POA , etc that will enable potential decisions to be made by the person that your mother would want to make decisions for her.
Also, depending on the status of your mother's diagnosis, if she is in continuing decline, you may want to contact a local hospice of your choice to learn more about their potential services to help both your mother and you either now or later down the road.
Peace.
To fully understand how this works, you should contact your local Social Security office for answer to this question.
On the other hand, if she gets more money than that already, her social security and medicare stay as is. The disability part comes in when you aren't old enough to retire (age 62 early retirement or your full retirement age..for her should have been 65). Should you become disabled before those ages, you apply for disability to start it earlier than those ages I mentioned.
Not sure, but maybe you are asking about additional funds/medical to help pay for her current medical issues. Medicare will pay for in home nursing and/or help with physical therapy (below waist/legs) or occupational therapy (above waist/arms).
Incontinence products aren't covered by Medicare. If she uses just the pads/panty type liner pads, check out the Sams Member Mark brand overnight incontinence pads. About $25 for a box containing 4 packs of about 30 pads. Best deal I could find for them for my parent. Sams also has adult size wipes with 5 packs in a box costing around $10 per box...again best price I found.
You should be able to go online to the state agency that handles Medicaid applications for aged/disabled people. It's possible your state has some in-home programs that she might qualify for to assist with some help at her home.
The last option would be if she needs nursing home care. A doctor has to say there is medical necessity for her to be in facility care. If she doesn't have enough income to pay for NH, she can apply for Medicaid to help fund that. What she has in the way of assets/bank accounts/other monies will determine if and when she might be eligible. It might be time to see an elder attorney who can tell you if she would be eligible for a Medicaid bed or what assets she would need to use up before they would pay.