My Mother is Ill, advice please.

[tenswyf]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

My 82 year old Mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March. Until about a month ago she wasn't experiencing any effects, but now she is going down hill rather quickly. Mom was in the hospital for a week and now can not be left alone. Her mind is fine, but her body is beginning to fail. My sister lives near her and has taken over complete control of her care and she is doing a wonderful job making my Mom comfortable. I live 8 hours away and have been going home as much as possible to help.

My Mother's only source of income is social security. My Sister and her husband are on a very tight budget, but my sister is taking time off from work (with no pay) to care for my Mom. Since I can not be there very often, I am helping out financially, as much as I can. My husband and I have two children and are on a very tight budget also, but I feel this is what has to be done. My sister and I have agreed that we will just try to keep her bills caught up during this time.

I pay my Mom's household bills out of her Social Security in her checking account (I have done all of her banking online for a few years now) and my sister has been using one of my Mom's credit cards (she is an authorized user) to buy medicine and groceries for my Mom.

I am worried about there being balances on the credit cards if there is not enough equity in my Mom's house to pay them off once she passes away. Will my sister be liable for them? She is not responsible for that credit card just an authorized user and she is only using it for essentials for my Mom.

My question is after I pay my Mom's household bills and the minimum required on the credit card there is a bit left over, would I be okay to pay some of my sisters monthly bills out of that money?

I am sorry this is so long, I am so worried about my Mom and upset about not being able to be with her and worried about the money. I don't know what to do.

Thank you.

 

[tenswyf]

I should have added, my Mom is aware of all of this and wants us to use the money for my sisters bills. It is not like we are doing this with out her knowledge. We do not talk about now with the state she is in, but we have in the past. My Mom is the best Mom in the world and always wanted to do every thing for her Daughters.

I do have POA for all my Mom's financial matters for when she is not of sound mind, if that makes a difference.

 

[BlondiePB]

You cannot pay your sister's bills with mom's money. You can pay your sister a monthly stipend for taking care of mom. What is mom's medical coverage? There are options available to assist with the cost of prescriptions.

 

[tenswyf]

Thank you for your reply. My Mother has only Medicare and prescriptions are not covered. As far as we know there is no help. Hospice is involved, but so far I am not sure that is a good thing. One day while I was there last week the hospice nurse had my sister get some medicine (that could have been bought over the counter for a few dollars, come to find out) but the prescription cost $82.00!!

When we later told the nurse about the cost, she said "Oh if I had known it would be that much you could have just used the over the counter stuff".

We have no other family. We have a few friends who have been coming in to help my Sister a little bit, we can not afford to pay for care for my Mom so that my Sister can go to her job.

I guess we are screwed. My Mom and Dad worked so hard all their lives, they just never had much money beyond what it cost to live. When my Dad passed away 18 years ago his pension stopped. My Mom continued to work to support herself up until last spring when she was no longer able to drive.

Any adice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[BlondiePB]

Thank you for your reply. My Mother has only Medicare and prescriptions are not covered. As far as we know there is no help. Hospice is involved, but so far I am not sure that is a good thing. One day while I was there last week the hospice nurse had my sister get some medicine (that could have been bought over the counter for a few dollars, come to find out) but the prescription cost $82.00!!

When we later told the nurse about the cost, she said "Oh if I had known it would be that much you could have just used the over the counter stuff".

We have no other family. We have a few friends who have been coming in to help my Sister a little bit, we can not afford to pay for care for my Mom so that my Sister can go to her job.

I guess we are screwed. My Mom and Dad worked so hard all their lives, they just never had much money beyond what it cost to live. When my Dad passed away 18 years ago his pension stopped. My Mom continued to work to support herself up until last spring when she was no longer able to drive.

Any adice you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You are very welcome. Hospice is 100% covered under Medicare, including prescriptions. It's filed under Medicare Part A. Hospice provides reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses (i.e. prescriptions, over-the-counter items, etc.). They can bill Medicare.

Edit - Send a copy of the receipts of all care related items to the Hospice case manager/supervisor in charge of your mother's case.

 

[tenswyf]

Thanks. I will look into that. I wonder why even though they know we are struggling no one from Hospice has offered any of that information.

 

[BlondiePB]

Thanks. I will look into that. I wonder why even though they know we are struggling no one from Hospice has offered any of that information.

It's not likely that the nurses & doctors would know about this. This is info that would come from the supervisor handling the case.

 

[candg918]

I am just a reader of this forum but would like to give you some information based on my personal experience. My mother is currently on hospice with Medicare. Some of her prescriptions are NOT covered. These were her antidepressants that she has been on for years, dementia drugs(Aricept/Namenda/Gabitrol) and antihistimines(Claritin), etc. It does cover pain medication. The one pain med I paid for before she was enrolled in hospice was for $300 for a 9 day supply. Some personal care items (Attends/Depends/bedpads) are also covered, and these can be very expensive.

I also should mention that my mother is with a non-profit hospice affiliated with a hospital. They also will provide some items needed by their patients that are not covered by Medicare as part of their service mission where for-profit organizations will not.

The hospice also provides a home health aid to assist at the nursing home and the assisted living center where my mother lived earlier. I had her in our home and could not keep up with the care demands as she required 24 hour supervision due to her dementia. It takes 2 people to assist my mother in bathing so having the HHA gives her more attention that she might otherwise have. It is not for a long time each day but it is the same caregiver - not a procession of different ones. The HHA assistance depends on the needs of the individual patient. the HHA originally came 2 times a week; the number of visits per week was increased as my mother's health deteriorated.

It is also helpful since the aid monitors her daily and contacts the hospice nurse if there seems to be a problem. The hospice nurse takes care of all of the interfacing with her primary care MD and can also prescribe meds. Meds covered under hospice are delivered to the nursing home either by the nurse or a volunteer. Only once have I been asked to pick up a prescription covered by hospice and that was from the hospital pharmacy after normal hours on a Friday.

Our hospice nurse even came to the nursing home on the day my mother was discharged from the ER at the hospital on her afternoon off in order to see if my mother needed anything and to check that the med orders were correct. She normally sees her 2 or 3 times a week.

If these types of services have not been offered, you should contact the social worker at the hospital where your mother has been treated and with her doctor's office for referrals to other organizations. I found that the assisted living center strongly recommended another (for-profit) hospice agency but our doctor ONLY will refer to the hospital's agency.

 

[violas]

Yes I work at hospice and some prescriptions are not covered. It's confusing. We had a lady with end stage cardiac disease as her terminal illness. They would not pay for her respiratory medications because it was not directly related to her diagnosis of end stage cardiac disease.

 

[BlondiePB]

Obviously, I have people that know how to do billing even for psychotropic prescriptions. The only thing Hospice would not reimburse a patient for for me was a gait belt because the CNAs could use a regular belt.