Most people require some sort of personal assistance as they age, and the cost of providing in-home care for elderly parents can be significant, particularly here in California.
As a caregiver to aging parents, you may be wondering how to pay for in-home care, which can be a significant financial burden. So let’s have a look at some alternative ways to pay for in-home care.
Home Care: The Costs
Professional in-home care for seniors can include a wide range of services, from assistance with bathing and grooming to medication management to housekeeping. These services are provided by both agencies and independent operators with state and county certifications.
California Caregiver Requirements
Requirements for caregivers in California include a qualification either as a Home Care Aide (HCA) or as a Home Health Aide (HHA).
- HCAs provide basic help with light daily housekeeping and chores, cooking, personal grooming, plus transportation and shopping when needed.
- HHAs are trained to care for a patients’ physical, mental, and emotional health as well as help out with things like personal hygiene, bathing, and management of dressings.
Cost of Care
The Genworth Cost of Care Survey, which tracks the costs of long-term care services, found the median monthly cost of in-home care in 2021, including both HCA and HHA services, to be $5,911 in Riverside County and $6,101 in San Bernardino County.
That compares with a national average for home health aide services of $5,148. The survey also found that median prices for adult day services, including home care services, rose 5.41% between 2020 and 2021.
10 Ways to Pay for In-Home Care
Prices for in-home care services are predicted to rise, as more seniors are opting to remain in their homes as they age. That makes it harder to afford the out-of-pocket cost of in-home care for your loved one. Let’s have a look at some other options that might work for you.
1. Annuities
Does your loved one hold an annuity? Annuities are designed to turn savings or pension payouts into steady income-streaming over several years, rather than a lump sum at retirement. Many annuities include long-term care provisions for the beneficiary.
2. Long-Term Care Insurance
Your loved one may have taken out long-term care insurance earlier in his or her life, which would be great, but make sure it specifically covers in-home care and not just nursing home care.
There might also be restrictions on how serious the policyholder’s health problems need to be or certain requirements for the home health care agencies’ certifications for the care to be covered.
3. Life Insurance Policies
Life insurance is purchased to allow a breadwinner to provide for others in the event of death. Later in life, however, it might make sense to sell the policy back to the issuing agency for a portion of its face value, depending on the policyholder’s age and health.
It’s also possible to sell your policy to third-party settlement companies, who then collect the benefits when the policyholder dies.
4. Reverse Mortgages
If your family member holds significant equity in their home, consider a reverse mortgage. This is a lump sum, fixed monthly payout, or line of credit borrowed against the home. But instead of repayments, the loan balance is payable when the mortgage holder dies, moves out of the home, or sells it. A homeowner must be 62 or older to qualify for a reverse mortgage.
5. Tax Benefits
If you provide more than half of your family member’s support you can claim them as a dependent, provided they meet the IRS’s income tax test. You can then deduct some expenses associated with their care and even pay for medical expenses through a tax-free flexible spending account. California also allows taxpayers to deduct medical expenses for dependents.
6. Veterans’ Benefits
If your loved one is a wartime veteran or the surviving spouse of a wartime veteran, they may qualify for benefits under a Veteran’s Pension. A Veteran’s Pension provides monthly payments as well as access to benefits such as the VA’s Aid and Attendance or Housebound program.
7. Medicaid
California offers Medicaid funding for long-term in-home care through its Medi-Cal health care program. The funding is provided through the state-run In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), which is delivered through each county’s Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs).
To qualify for the program, your family member must:
- Be 65 years or older, or disabled, or blind
- Be a California resident
- Qualify for Medi-Cal benefits
- Live in a private home of their choosing
To qualify for funding, your family member will be visited in their home by a county social worker who will assess the services they need and assign county-authorized hours for services to be performed.
8. Home and Community-Based Services Waivers
Medi-Cal also offers Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waivers of ordinary Medicaid rules that restrict benefits to patients already living in nursing homes. These waivers aim to keep elderly and at-need recipients out of nursing homes for as long as possible.
Unlike regular Medicaid benefits, HCBS waiver programs are not limited to medical costs alone and are not tied to specific acute conditions. To qualify, applicants must:
- Show that without in-home services they would have to be in a nursing home
- Have a low income and low net worth, although eligibility is often much higher than for regular Medicaid benefits
9. PACE programs
PACE is a relatively new federal program providing services—including home care—to seniors living in their own homes despite chronic health needs. To be eligible, your senior must:
- Qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare benefits
- Need nursing home-level care, but still be living at home
There is a Neighborhood Pace program serving both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
10. Collective Sibling Agreement
If you are one of several family members responsible for elderly relatives living alone, you may be able to work out a formal agreement to share the costs of in-home care.
The agreement may include reimbursement from the estate of your relatives or the sale of their home after they pass and should be governed by a written legal agreement.
In some cases, relatives may opt to pay a single family member to provide in-home care, particularly if they have to give up other work to take care of an elderly or in-need relative.
Let Families Choice Home Care Serve Your Senior
Families Choice Home Care is a family-owned and operated home care agency offering non-medical care to clients in the comfort of their own homes throughout the Inland Empire. We are registered with the California Department of Social Services.
Our caregivers are the cream of the crop. We look for warm, honest, caring people and help them boost their skills through our exclusive Certified Companion Aide and Certified Hospice Companion Aide programs.
Our staff provides many services including:
- Light housekeeping
- Light personal care
- Sleep-over services
- Errand-running and transportation
- Care and companionship
We also offer more extensive services, including assistance with bathing, grooming, and dressing.
Click below to learn more about how we can serve your loved one.
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