Medical assistance

Can you put your hands on 3 yrs of EVERY page of EVERY bank statement? NO EXCEPTIONS.

 

That's just the proverbial tip of the iceberg of the additional workload expected of the caregiver spouse in preparation for application for medical assistance to pay for long term care. Compiling literally inches and inches of paperwork is what I have been up to since Mother's Day.

 

Sinking in medical debt you have to protect yourself and your family. As I mentioned in an earlier post you have three choices: long term care insurance, independent wealth, or Medicaid. We are not independently wealthy and with MS beginning 18 years ago long term care insurance is not available once you have such a diagnosis as MS. Applying for Medicaid for Patti or inevitable life on the streets for the three of us is the choice.  

 

The decision to have to abandon home care is tough. The transition is exhausting. It's hard enough to ask for help; to beg is something you thought you would never resort to. You can rest assured our government guarantees that you must grovel and your family be economically disemboweled.

 

Facts and workload aside there are emotions associated with each step that you can't even process before moving onto another, like jumping from roller coaster to roller coaster. Are you a caregiver?  Spouse?  Parent?  Homemaker?  Head of family?  How has all of this changed these? The responsibilities drive you forward deeper into unknowns.

 

How did it ever get so desperate? Our system is so skewed against homecare for seriously disabled people that you find yourself suddenly at the precipice of the age of institutional care no matter how well informed simply because life isn't predictable.  

 

What is MS? We can assure it is a lot more than a neurological disease.