The one topic that receives more attention, questions, and confusion when it comes to assisted living and long-term care, is figuiring out costs, insurance, what is covered, and “how in the world is mom going to pay for her care?”
Rightly so. Most of us don’t get a trial run at ‘aging’ and finding care, even though most of us have some form of insurance or coverage. Many of us also assume that somehow, our care will be covered, but we don’t really look into it in much detail until the need is right at our doorstep.
At the top of the list of things confusing when it comes to long-term care is the topic of Medicare, and will it cover the cost of assisted living in Alaska.
Generally speaking, the answer is unfortunately no.
However, not all is lost. Most states have Medicaid Waiver programs (1915c) that “allow the provision of long term care services in home and community based settings under the Medicaid Program. States can offer a variety of services under an HCBS Waiver program. Programs can provide a combination of standard medical services and non-medical services.”
Now, this doesn’t mean specifically that your state will cover the cost of traditional assisted living, but it does mean that there may be some very viable and workable alternatives to make sure you, or your loved-one is able to get needed care, either at home, or through community settings.
Alaska offers Home and Community Based Waivers available to:
Older Alaskans
Adults with Disabilities
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Children with Complex Medical Problems
In a nutshell, you’ll need to contact a care coordnator (call the Aging and Disability Resource Center at 1-877-6AK-ADRC). You and your coordinator will discuss your situation, and arrange for an assessment of your medical and functional needs.
Once you are deemed eligible for a waiver, you will then, with your coordinator, develop a plan of care based on your assessment.
For detailed information, The State of Alaska’s Department of Senior and Disability Services offers an excellent Medicaid Waiver Brochure detailing everything how to get started, and the basics of the programs, as well as very good chart detailing Alaska’s four Medicaid waivers, and what services are approved.
I appreciate that you spend time on your site providing information that seniors can actually use, and that is helpful – and that you actually provide access to sites like the Alaska medicare pages, etc. Really helpful..and much appreciated. Keep up the great work!
DavidK
All i can say is that you should plan ahead for long-term care as far as possible, so you aren’t forced into a decision or situation that you don’t have control over if you or a loved one becomes ill or needs care suddenly. happened with my mother..was a difficult situation.
California’s HCBS waiver program is a scam. Most of the people placed on waiver are put on it by California’s Regional Centers without the knowledge of the parent or conservator. At the IPP a regional center employee, usually the service coordinator, will tell parent to “sign” something, but will NOT tell the parent it’s to agree that their child is on the waiver, so the parent has no clue. Then, back at the regional center, they will work to write in all they need to to make it look like they are doing things right, while the parent has no idea how they just got scre%$#d on the IPP. Most of the California Regional Center clients on these federal waivers are NOT getting the services the regional centers write down they are getting. It’s a con job. California Dept. of developmental services asks the regional centers how they are doing, but doesn’t investigate. They just believe whatever the regional centers tell them they are doing, they never interview the parents or clients receiving services under HCBS waiver. This entire thing is a scam. The California Regional Centers place names on a waiver list so the Dept of Developmental services can get FEDERAL funds for the services, but NOBODY is auditing and asking the parents or clients how they are getting these services. This is a total scam. SOme regional centers are FRAUDENTLY filling out paperwork required for the HCBS waiver and NOBODY is checking.
Wow, that is quite an interesting comment – although not much to do with Alaska’s waivers, interesting nonetheless. Sounds like you have had some bad personal experiences with CA’s waiver system. I’ll check out the link you provided.