A new report from AARP argues for improving family leave for working caregivers, citing the growing population of older Americans, increasing numbers of family caregivers on the job, and escalating demands and stress on caregivers. Keeping Up with the Times: Supporting Family Caregivers with Workplace Leave Policies points to three policy solutions to ease the burden on both caregivers and employers: unpaid family and medical leave, paid family and medical leave insurance, and earned sick time. “According to the report, close to three out of four women of prime caregiving age are in the workforce and 74 percent of adults…
Does the normally tidy house now seem neglected? Is there hoarding? Do you notice memory problems, confusion or physical unsteadiness? Discovering that a parent's physical or mental health is declining can be heavy on the heart. It also can be hard on your finances, states the Wall Street Journal. "The first thing is don't panic. "Come up with a plan." Feeling overwhelmed may prompt you to spend money on the wrong things, such as full-time care, when your parent just needs delivered meals or someone to run errands a few times a week. Here are some tips: 1. Assess needs…
1. Figure out what type of place your parents need and what your family can afford. 2. Involve your parents in the decision, if they’re up to it. 3. Before hiring an eldercare consultant, ask how he or she gets paid. 4. Make sure a facility is a good fit for your parents socially. 5. Conduct your own onsite inspection of any facility before signing up your parents. 6. Research the Medicare and state evaluations for the facilities you’re considering. 7. Read the facility’s contract carefully. 8. Above all, plan ahead.
Your parents are living into their 90’s. Their savings have been depleted on the cost of care. Consequently, the only assets are their income, maybe a pension and Social Security. However, they still are at home, and need help with cooking, shopping and bathing. You receive a phone call, “I just don’t have enough to pay the caregiver next month.” What will you do? The savings are exhausted. Federal, State and Local Government programs have been cut. Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for the caregiver. Consequently, they may not get any help at all, unless they are in a…
Your aging parents live in a different city or state, who will be your eyes and ears? Who will educate you and them about the elder care maze of Medicaid, Medicare, Long Term Care Insurance, Home Care v. Assisted Living v. Nursing Home, etc? You may talk to health care professionals, doctors, social workers, and friends. However, everyone seems to have a differing view about what is best for your aging parents; maybe these opinions conflict or have a different agenda. The physician desires to see your parents at home. Consequently, he does not lose a patient and revenue. An…
Being responsible for an elderly loved one can mean adopting a rather rigid schedule and lifestyle, especially if you are the primary caregiver. How, then, do you travel? It can be a logistical nightmare, whether the travel is elective or necessary. Regardless, understanding some of the challenges and workarounds in advance can make the travel more manageable. The New Old Age blog at The New York Times recently offered some food for thought on this important subject. The big question is whether your elderly parent is traveling with you. If the travel involves you alone for business or pleasure, then…
Sometimes the biggest mistakes are also the most mundane, and those can make for an awful headache for even the best of us. The maxim proves itself once again in the case of Anthony Olivo, and Forbes’s recent re-telling of that story, where even a tax lawyer neglected proper record keeping of his services to his loved ones – both care-giving and estate-planning services – and the IRS had little sympathy. Anthony had been a tax lawyer for nearly two decades, even opening his own practice, until the needs of his aging parents grew too great. Anthony turned to become…
Do you have the time, inclination, or the ability to manage the affairs of your aging parents? Are the issues that your aging parents are facing becoming bigger and more complicated than you can comfortably manage? Are the other demands and responsibilities of family, work and day to day life, so abundant that you are not able to provide the desired level of control, supervision, and attention to your aging parent’s issues and crises? If you are not sure, please call our office for a consultation, or visit our website, so we can help you decide if our office may…
Hospice care can provide a great benefit to many families and their dying loved ones, and Medicare has been generally praised for its support through reimbursements to providers over the past 28 years. However, according to a recent article by Kaiser Health News and The New York Times, there is growing concern now about misuse of the program by for-profit hospice providers. Hospice care is intended to provide dying patients with palliative care in their own homes, or in a hospice facility or nursing home. But, as hospice has moved into the mainstream, concerns about excessive costs and misuse have…
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