How to pay in-home senior care costs is often confusing for families, but our experts in home care services in Gold Coast Chicago can help.
Continuing to live at home for a lifetime is the objective of most seniors. Home is where we’re most content. It is where memories have been and continue to be made. We’ve meticulously built an atmosphere at home in line with our personal style and preferences. And it’s where we have the liberty to make all of our own choices: from what and when to eat our meals, to which activities we participate in, to who we spend time with.
If maintaining the home or attending to everyday needs gets to be difficult later in life, in-home care is often an ideal solution. Senior in-home care allows for independent living where a senior chooses to remain at home with an ideal level of support.
At Inspired Home Care, a provider of home care services in Gold Coast Chicago and the surrounding communities, we receive calls each day from older adults and their loved ones who wish to find out about our senior care solutions, and one of the first questions is commonly, “How do I pay for in-home senior care costs?”
There are in fact a number of different ways to cover home care costs. We are here to help you determine the best means for you.
Private Pay
Since senior care services are non-medical in nature, the most common option to pay for them is out-of-pocket. Consider these ideas:
- Work with a financial advisor. Financial planners provide support on deciding which investments you can and should use to finance senior care services.
- Assess the value of personal property, including art, antiques, collectibles, etc. that you might choose to liquidate.
- Talk to a tax professional about establishing exactly how much revenue you can gain from selling a piece of real estate, or whether to explore an equity line of credit.
- Talk with other family members to discuss sharing the cost for senior care.
Veterans’ Aid & Attendance
The Veterans’ Aid and Attendance program helps wartime veterans and their spouses cover the price of care in the home, if they meet the following criteria:
- An honorable or general discharge.
- Orders from a physician confirming the need for support to manage activities of daily living.
- Specific financial requirements.
- 1 day of service that took place during an active war, and at least 90 days of service overall.
Housebound benefits are another consideration for many veterans. This is an amount that is paid in addition to a veteran’s monthly pension. Qualifications include:
- A single permanent disability that has been established as 100% debilitating, making the veteran permanently and substantially confined to the home; or
- A single permanent disability that’s been established as 100% debilitating, alongside another disability (or disabilities) confirmed as 60% or more disabling.
Long-Term Care Insurance
Even though Medicare and standard health insurance plans generally don’t cover the cost for non-medical home care services, long-term care policies often do. The requirements for utilizing a long-term care plan involve a person’s lack of ability to perform fundamental activities of day-to-day living, such as taking a bath or shower, getting dressed, eating, using the bathroom, walking, and transferring from a bed to chair.
Inspired Home Care’s home care specialists are here to help you with receiving any benefits to which you may be entitled. We will work with you to formulate a custom plan of care that fits a senior’s specific needs and budget. Give us a call at 847-787-7572 to schedule a no-cost in-home consultation at your convenience and to learn more.