@A myALZteam Member Thank you Helen, Very useful booklet for the US. My wife was a volunteer in France visiting palliative care patients in hospitals and in a memory care centre.

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A myALZte...

@A myALZteam Member and @A myALZteam Member: That's essentially the same as our system. If someone has assets, they're expected to pay for their own care. In order to qualify for Medicaid, financial information must be disclosed. There are "lookback" periods during which assets can't be disposed of or transferred, simply to qualify for benefits. Essentially, Community Medicaid, which can help to pay for some care in the home, has a 2-year lookback; and Full Medicaid, which can help to pay for institutional care, has a 5-year lookback.

I went through that process on behalf of my son, and it was extremely thorough (extremely daunting too, because while I was going through this process, he was in the hospital &/or Rehab facility, cognitively unable to provide any assistance; and I initially had no legal access to anything and no copies of anything, because he had been an independent adult. Meanwhile, the medical bills were mounting. What a stressful nightmare! But I got it done...and that experience is a big reason why I try to help others going through these things.)

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A myALZte...

Curious how other Countries fund/cover care facilities for individuals with dementia/alz? In the USA you pay out of pocket unless you qualify for Medicaid which is nearly impossible to qualify for, for some. Medicare covers Palliative and Hospice which is great BUT it equated to 2 CNA visits a week and 1 Nurse visit weekly. The bills? Ranged from $4000 to $4700!!! WISH the USA would use ALL of that to fund a Nursing/Memory Care room!! :(

@A myALZteam Member, in England, "social care" (which covers dementia care) has to be paid by the person receiving the care. This includes care in your own home. When you run out of money, social services carry out an assessment to ascertain the level of care you need and then the local council has to pay your care fees, but only to one of their approver care providers, be they carers coming in your home or you living in a facility. If you want to live in a nicer, more expensive facility, someone else (family) has to pay the difference in the fees. If you own a house and go into a care home, you have to sell it to pay for your care, unless your spouse or a dependent child lives in it. It means that for people who have worked hard all their lives, paid taxes and paid into the NHS, all their money - savings and property - is used to pay for their care and they aren't able to leave any kind of inheritance to their families.
Obviously, I've simplified it here but those are the basic principles.

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