Joey Coker | Today, we're going to talk about how senior home care may be less expensive than you think. I'm Joey Coker, owner of Home Aid Caregivers. I've been in business since 2002 in the Tyler, Texas area providing non-medical home care to seniors. Over that time, I've been asked a lot of questions about senior care. We started a video series to help answer some of these questions. Everywhere you go you hear, “I’d love to stay home, but I just cannot afford it.” You don't know if that’s actually true until you look at your specific circumstances.
I want to talk about what's really affordable and what's really not. Everyone is in a different financial situation. That's a fact. But what you have to do is compare apples to apples. There are many types of care, for example there is assisted living facilities, nursing homes, independent living services and private duty caregivers. There are also companies like mine that are licensed and bonded and there are family members. So, unless you have a family member who volunteers their time or you're on Medicaid, you will be paying someone or some facility to provide care for your loved one.
The real question is, “What's the best thing for you? And is it the best value for you?” Value is very important. This decision is not like buying a car where you look mostly at price. You are making a decision for your mom or dad or another loved one. So, if you’re only looking at price then you’re not taking all the things they need into consideration. When you look only at price, it’s just one thing, just one ingredient. But you need to consider a lot of other things.
You want to keep their security and safety in mind. You want to consider the dependability of the services or facility as well as your parent and your own peace of mind. Especially if you’re a son or daughter who lives out of town. You want to have peace of mind that they are being well taken care of. You cannot put a price tag on peace of mind. If you know a good company is overseeing the care of your parent, you can go to bed at night knowing that you're doing the right thing.
How do you pay for this kind of care?
Private funds out of personal finances, long term care insurance, or from a VA benefit are the 3 options that pay for non-Medical Home Care.
This is not skilled Home Health Nursing or therapy where Medicare will pay for the in-home services or under certain conditions Medicaid may pay. This is non-medical home care which is assistance with things like grocery shopping, cooking meals and help with medications or bathing. If your mom is like most people, she may only need help with a few things. The person who needs bedrest care or other medical help are not who we're talking about. Although we do provide 24-hour care for people who need non-medical senior care; bu most people we serve can still do some or most activities on their own. They just need someone to help them do a few things.
So, for 5 hours a day, $90 a day, you can have one of our caregivers come to the house to cook, clean, bathe, run errands, do the laundry, or other necessary services for just $90. When you compare that cost to a broken hip because no one was available to help, then you see why we know in-home eldercare is affordable. When you compare it to the cost of not taking medicine correctly and ending up in the hospital, then you can see the value of in-home care. When you compare to not knowing that your mom had a mini stroke and ended up having a more serious stroke because nobody was there with her. You can't put a price tag on those things, but when you look at money, you need to look at more than just money, look at investment. This is an investment, not only in their health and their quality of life, but if you proactively address these problems, then in the long term, you're going to save money.
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