My 92 year old mother is no longer able to stay alone while I work. I will need to quit my job and it will be 8 or 9 months before I qualify for Medicare and I will have no health insurance at this time. Is there a way or plan to get my health insurance covered while caring for my Mother?
If you made a ton of money already, it might be better to look for a low cost clinic and ride out the year but when the marketplace opens up in October you would be approved for Medicaid for 2017 until Medicare kicked in. You might be able to then get regular Medicaid as your secondary but that's a different Medicaid and would depend on your assets whereas Medicaid expansion is income based.
it also includes the net worth loss of the health insurance coverage [which you know is an issue].... loss of money being put into Social Security/Medicare..... loss of other benefits such as matching 401(k).... profit sharing.... workman's comp insurance.... company sponsored life insurance.... vacation pay, sick pay.... tuition assistance, etc. [source: in part Reuters 5/30/12]
If you do decide to leave work, get some type of hospitalization insurance, otherwise if you have a medical event, it would wipe out your savings.
My late Mom lived to be 98, and I refused to quit work to take care of my parents because my parent could afford to hire caregivers and cleaning help, they just didn't want to spend the money. If your Mom has funds, have her hire caregivers, or see if she would want to move to Assisted Living... there are some very lovely places that are like hotels with restaurant style dining areas. They are expensive, but less expensive then around the clock caregivers at home. Plus Mom would be around other ladies her own age. My Dad is now in Assisted Living and he really likes the place.
1- she may have a spend down but a pooled trust can fix this
2- if you are the POA, you can't be paid so you might have to get a lawyer or someone trustworthy to be POA
3- if you live with her, they will try to recover the funds via the house but there is a hardship waiver but I haven't researched the qualifications to see how likely approval is.
But if you find out that she's able to be approved you have the option of working for her X amount of hours and hiring other aides for the other hours or you could hire aides for all the hours approved for and keep your job. I'm not sure how much care she requires but if it's 24 hours and they don't allow OT, it would mean 4 aides and 8 hours hanging but you can get as many aides to cover the hours, they don't all have to be 40 hours. Idk what your current salary is but I get $12.15/hour for the first 40 and time and a half for 51/hrs. I'm a live in and my agency allows ot but only pays me 13 hours a day. The 40 hour wage isn't the best but the OT helps. Most agencies don't allow OT so ymmv. NY is a more liberal state so you might have a lower wage depending on where you live. Anyway, the job offers insurance if that helps. MSG me if you want any info but if you research Medicaid in home care and look for the info about clients hiring their own help you should find something.
Now with "Observation", the doctor cannot write a script for Rehab where Medicare would pay the required number of days. That would be self-paid. One would have needed to be placed in house in the hospital for 3 days to qualify for Rehab.