No life event could sabotage your financial situation more than what an illness or other health problems could. The good news is that if you be proactive and cognizant, there are much more help available to you than you may realize. Even though Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for you Homecare Services cost, yet, there are several government benefits that you may be entitled to. Are you fully aware of all government benefits that you may be able to enroll? Here is a list of major benefits that you should consider your eligibility for:
- Long Term Care Insurance Benefit
Benefit: Daily contribution to your homecare services cost
Life Event: After an accident or as part of aging, you would sometimes need assistance not only for your medical and health conditions, but also for your custodial care and day-to-day personal activities. This need could be temporarily such as after a surgery or during recovery from a fall, or could be more chronic and permanent as the aging cause progressive physical and mental decline. The care could be very minimal such as once a week for few hours, or could be every day for extensive amount of service. After all, we all need assistance and why not having Long Term Care helping us to cover the cost. Redan Medical’s Homehealth could help you in enrolling to Long Term Care benefits, and could also render all the homecare services that you and your household might need.
Eligibility: Carrying long term care benefit and showing the need for receiving homecare assistance
- Shoes for diabetics
Benefit: Custom-made shoes and inserts
Life Event: If you have diabetes, it might surprise you to know that Medicare Part B will pick up most of the tab for therapeutic shoes. The criteria are fairly simple: You need to be under the care of a doctor for diabetes management and also suffering from serious foot problems, including ulcers, calluses that can lead to ulcers, nerve damage, poor circulation, or deformities.
Eligibility: Anyone with diabetes who’s eligible for Medicare Part B
- Therapy for Alzheimer’s patients
Benefit: Specialized services including outpatient physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy
Life Event: For those dealing with memory loss, occupational therapy and physical therapy can be key to coping with the tasks of daily living. To qualify, you just need your doctor to prescribe the treatment, and then use a Medicare-certified therapist. Although Medicare doesn’t usually cover psychological services by non-physicians, there’s an exception for Alzheimer’s care. (Coverage extends to clinical psychologists or medical social workers who are Alzheimer’s care specialists, as long as they’re Medicare-certified.)
Eligibility: Patients with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia covered by Medicare Part B
- Free rides
Benefit: Transportation to and from your home to appointments and activities
Life Event: Paratransit is the official term for transportation provided by local communities for those who can’t drive or comfortably use regular public transportation. These services vary by community, but typically it’s a door-to-door van service that’s available by appointment. The services are provided by local government agencies, but they receive federal funds intended to guarantee access for the disabled and elderly.
Eligibility: People with mobility problems and seniors
- Help with household chores
Eligibility: Those over 60 or disabled
Life Event: If you’re struggling to maintain your home, it may be possible to obtain help with all those household tasks that have become difficult or impossible to cope with. Under the auspices of the Older Americans Act, many Area Agencies on Aging offer help with household chores as part of the umbrella of services they offer to help people live independently in their homes. In Florida, for example, the Mid-Florida Area Agency on Aging covers a wide array of household chores including seasonal cleaning, yard work, and household repairs that don’t require a specialized license. They’ll sometimes even cover pest control if it’s part of overall house maintenance. They’ll also send someone out to help with lifting and moving furniture, appliances, and other heavy objects.
Benefit: Free or low-cost home and yard maintenance and moving help
- Low-interest loans for small businesses affected by disaster
Benefit: Up to $2 million in low-interest, long-term loans
Life Event: If your business is affected by a natural disaster such as a flood or hurricane, the Small Business Administration (SBA) offers low-interest long-term loans to help you rebuild, make repairs, restock inventory, and do anything else you need to do to get your business back off the ground. The loans can be used to make repairs to the property itself or to machinery and equipment; the money can also be used to replace furnishings and inventory.
Eligibility: Any business or nonprofit damaged in a disaster
- Home or car modifications for veterans
Benefit: A loan or loan guarantee to buy a house or car or modify an existing house or car
Life Event: The Veteran’s Administration provides extensive services to veterans who are considered to have a service-related disability that prevents them from performing normal, everyday activities. But this doesn’t mean that you had to become disabled during service; for many veterans, a mental, emotional, or physical condition that began decades before in the military only becomes disabling with age. In this case, you may qualify for service-connected disability benefits at the point that your condition actually becomes disabling.
Eligibility: Veterans with a disability
- Burial benefits for veterans
Benefit: A grave site and headstone and, for some, a burial allowance for funeral expenses
Life Event: If you’re a veteran, you’re eligible to be buried in any of the 131 national cemeteries, or in the state cemetery in the state you’re living in at the time of death. Your spouse and children are eligible for the same benefit. The choice to be buried in a particular cemetery depends on whether there are grave sites available, and grave sites can’t be reserved prior to death. There’s no cost to your family for the grave site or for a government headstone or marker, which the cemetery provides. However, this benefit doesn’t include the cost of either a funeral or cremation, which must be made privately.
Eligibility: Veterans approved for eligibility with the Veteran’s Administration
- Social security payments to dependents
Benefit: Monthly payments based on the social security recipient’s work history
Life Event: After a death in the family, many people fail to take advantage of money they’re entitled to receive from the Social Security Administration. Known as “survivor benefits,” these payments are made to the spouse of the deceased and any children or stepchildren under the age of 18. To qualify, the widowed spouse must be over the age of 60 or over the age of 50 and disabled; if the spouse is caring for children under the age of 16, then this age restriction doesn’t apply. And in some cases, stepchildren, grandchildren, or step grandchildren can also collect. If a child is severely disabled, he or she can collect on a parent’s social security for as long as needed.
Eligibility: Widows and widowers, children, and other dependents of a social security recipient
- Free credit check
Benefit: Three credit reports per year at no cost
Life Event: Don’t get sucked in by the offers from for-profit credit repair companies; you can monitor your credit and fix any problems without spending anything. One of the ways the government helps us protect ourselves from fraud is by offering a free yearly credit check. By law, you’re entitled to request one free annual credit report from each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Stagger your requests, and you could monitor your credit every four months at no cost. However, many experts advise ordering all three reports at once so you can compare them. To find out more, go to the federally authorized website www.AnnualCreditReport.com.
Eligibility: Everyone
“If you be proactive and cognizant, there are much more help available to you than you may realize.”
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