Benefits of Home Healthcare Over Nursing Home Care
By Barry Zimmer on June 19th, 2018 in Medicaid
Cincinnati Medicaid attorneys can help you to make plans to get the care you need as you get older. In many circumstances, illness or age-related infirmity can leave you unable to do activities of daily living. If you are not able to handle basic routine tasks, this can make living independently difficult. Often, people who cannot do basic tasks on their own any more end up having to move to a nursing home. However, there are some circumstances where you may be able to avoid this by getting long-term care at home instead. 
There are significant benefits to getting healthcare at home compared with getting care in a nursing home. But, both nursing home care and home health care can be costly. If you want to ensure you are able to afford the types of care you want, you should talk with Cincinnati Medicaid attorneys at Zimmer Law Firm for help as soon as possible. When you have the right plans made in advance of the time you need care, you will hopefully have the flexibility to get the help you need in the location where you need it.
Benefits of Home Healthcare Compared with Nursing Home Care
If you are making the decision for where to get your care when you can no longer handle routine activities of daily living on your own, you may be able to decide between getting help at home and moving to a nursing home. However, in most cases, when you get care at home, you will have a home health aide come for a period of time to assist you but you will be on your own or under the care of family members for a good portion of the day. This means if you need constant round-the-clock care and do not have a family member or other caregiver to provide this care when aides are not present, you will typically need to move to a nursing home.
But, if you can live independently or with family as long as you have someone to come in and help with things such as your hygiene needs, then home healthcare can have significant benefits compared to moving to a nursing home. Some of those benefits include:
- Remaining in a familiar environment: Many people would prefer to remain at home in a familiar environment rather than move to an institutional setting. By remaining at home, you can continue doing many of the things you love. If you have family living with you, you can also remain connected to your loved ones and your community of extended family.
- Saving costs: It is typically far less expensive to have a caregiver provide you with help at home than to move to a nursing home full time. If you have a home health aide come in for several hours daily to help you with activities of daily living, you will not be paying for a room in a nursing home and full-time care as you would if you moved to an institutional setting.
Of course, paying for a home health aide can still be expensive, although not nearly as costly as a nursing home. Medicare will typically not cover the help you get at home or the costs of nursing home care if you simply need help with routine activities of daily living. Medicare covers only skilled nursing care in skilled nursing facility and even this care is covered only under limited circumstances. You would need to pay privately unless you have long-term care insurance or unless you’re able to qualify for means-tested Medicaid benefits.
Making a Medicaid plan can allow you to get Medicaid to pay for a nursing home or to pay for long-term care at home even if you have not first impoverished yourself to become eligible for these benefits.
Getting Help from Cincinnati Medicaid Attorneys
Cincinnati Medicaid attorneys at Zimmer Law Firm will provide personalized one-on-one advice on healthcare issues and on the creation of a Medicaid plan. With assistance from our legal team, you can protect your wealth while getting qualified for Medicaid so you can get the care you need without impoverishing yourself.
You never know when you will become unable to handle your care on your own and will need help from professionals who can assist with activities of daily living. You shouldn’t wait to make a Medicaid plan because your assets and your chance to leave a legacy could be lost if you must pay for either long-term care or nursing home care at home. To find out more about the help we can offer, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 513-721-1513 at any time for personalized advice.