Medicare patient rights?

[MissB]

Quick question with probably long complex answers:

The hospital that has my mom says they have concerns that she doesn’t have a safe space to go to. That seems like they’re admitting that they shouldn’t release her?

(Quick background: she lives alone in a small house with her hoard. She was on her bathroom floor from last Saturday thru yesterday afternoon. She tested positive for Covid and is still weak.)

I’m on my way up to the hospital, but the hospital says they don’t have any beds.

[choie]

1. Can she apply for Medicaid and

then be able to access home care? That would enable her to remain in her house and receive care.

[MissB]

2. I will check into that.

She would qualify. Her only asset is a small old car and her monthly social security.

[h2ebits]

3. Her house is also an asset.

If your mom is a hoarder, then the hospital is probably correct in saying that her home is not safe for her to return to. Also, she lives alone which is problematic for care.

Have you looked into her being transferred to a nursing home? Most hospitals have a social worker on staff to help with this type of thing.

[MissB]

4. It's not her house

My brother owns it (bought it as a safe place for her to live). I pay a portion of the mortgage each month. She’s never owned even a portion of the house in any way.

I’m hoping the patient advocate can help, I’ll ask about a social worker too. She will be very resistant to anything other than her own home, sadly. To the detriment of her health.

[h2ebits]

6. That is excellent.

Medicaid has strict requirements on amount of assets that can be retained and a house can be major so I'm glad to hear that is not part of her estate.

This is a difficult time for her, as well as, you and your brother. I'm sure that the patient advocate/social worker will be able to help.

[choie]

7. A social worker could help with the hoarding issue,

and it's usually best for someone to be able to remain in their home, if at all possible, and that's what having home care would enable her to do. As for eligibility, a primary residence is usually an exempted asset, as long as the home equity interest is under a certain amount.

[MissB]

8. I will try to connect with the social worker next week

She is likely being transferred to another hospital as this one doesn’t have any beds to admit her. I had to push a bit, but the dr came back and said that her chest X-rays showed pneumonia which is enough to get her admitted.

Meanwhile Dh and I went and cleaned up her bathroom. Countless contractors garbage bags full of stuff. I think she was just walking on top of the piles to get to the toilet, which was actually clean (toilet, not floor).

I am going home and bathing in Lysol. This was my first exposure to my mom’s hoard and it is…bad. Really bad.

[1WorldHope]

5. Call your local Agency on Aging.

They are the experts in all things for aging.