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Paying for Senior Housing...

Personal Resources
The most common way to pay for Senior Housing is out of personal resources. If you are disabled long term care insurance or Medicaid can be used to pay for senior housing.
Long Term Care Insurance
This is a private policy which you have to buy before you become disabled. You buy a certain monthly dollar benefit which you can use to pay for assisted living. For the benefit to begin you have to show that you are unable to perform certain activities of daily living. It doesn't kick in just because you are a certain age. It doesn't pay for independent living. You have to be somewhat disabled so you need assisted living. The benefits and costs of these plans vary widely. For more information on these plans you should contact a financial planner who is well versed in long term care insurance. For a list of financial planners click here.
For a detailed guide on long term care insurance from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners click here.
Medicaid
Medicaid is a State and Federal program that will pay most nursing home costs for people with limited income and assets. The Qualification process can take several months hospitals usually have a Medicaid worker to process emergency applications when a patient is in the hospital, otherwise one must apply at the Medicaid office, social services department or welfare office. If a person is in a nursing home usually the nursing home social worker can assist the resident in applying for Medicaid as well. Medicaid will pay for custodial (non skilled nursing care), long term care in a nursing home. The chief drawback in using Medicaid is that you basically have to spend almost all of your assets before you qualify.
Medicaid pays the long-term care costs for eligible, low-income individuals. There are three different areas for eligibility determinations:
- Income (300% of SSI for an individual - $1809.00 per month)
- Resources ( $2,000 in assets)
- Limitations in Activities of Daily Living
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