Elder Law • Medicaid Planning • VA Benefits

How Can I Care For My Aging Parents Without Breaking the Bank?

Aug 16, 2018

Dealing with an aging parent can be quite challenging. Part of your responsibility will be to help them access healthcare at all times and to ensure their comfort. At the same time, you will have to grapple with your job and your other responsibilities. Long-term care for aging parents can also be expensive.

Some of the expenses you are likely to pay when taking care of your parents include:

Healthcare costs

Healthcare costs vary depending on your parent’s pre-existing health issues. Even if your parent has an insurance policy, it will not cover certain medical expenses. As such, you will still have to pay for those expenses out of your pocket.

Assisted living or nursing home costs

Costs for assisted living or a nursing home can vary depending on your location, insurance, services your parents need, etc. These costs can either be fee-for-service or all-inclusive. With fee-for-service, you will pay for services your parents use only. With all-inclusive fees, you will pay one monthly fee. The fee will cover meals, rent, and additional services your parents choose. Services can include transportation or housekeeping.

Accessibility costs

If your parents are staying at home, you may have to retrofit sections of their house to ensure it is more accessible. For example, if your parent can no longer walk and is confined to a wheelchair, you will have to invest in ramps, a stair climber, stair lift, or any other stair climbing solution.

You will also have to replace faucets and toilets. This is to ensure your parents have a usable and safe access to the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. You should budget for this because annual taxes, mortgage payments, lawn care, maintenance, and insurance are other expenses that await you.

Daily expenses

Whether your parents live at home or at an assisted living facility, you will require a budget for expenses such as food, transportation, rent, accommodation, and utilities.

These are some of the many expenses you will incur long-term when taking care of your parents. So how can you take on this responsibility without breaking the bank?

Buy long-term care insurance

With this insurance policy, you will get daily benefits for caring for your parents at home or in an assisted living facility. The policy can also cover things like transportation services to ensure your parent gets to medical appointments. Most insurance companies have different eligibility requirements and coverage levels. Should shop around to find one that suits your aging parents.

To ensure you prepare yourself and your family for the journey ahead, buy this insurance coverage even before your parents actually need it. This is crucial because insurers charge higher premiums for older individuals. Furthermore, some individuals may not be eligible depending on their pre-existing conditions.

Have a budget

If you parent is too old, you will also have the responsibility of taking care of their assets and finances. This may require you to get guardianship of your parent. Guardianship is a legal status, and to get it may require you to hire a lawyer to help you navigate through the court process. Being a finance manager is a big responsibility because it is easy to misuse the money and put yourself in a difficult financial situation. Therefore, you will need good budgetary skills.

If your parents are on fixed income, make sure you get their expenses in order. Create a budget that includes food and housing. Also, include medical needs like prescription costs and premiums. A strategy to use when creating the budget is to set up an automatic payment system. Such a system will prevent you from ignoring or forgetting certain bills. It will also prevent you from racking up unnecessary penalties.

Once you account for all the frequent expenses, set up a rechargeable pre-paid card. Give this card to your parents so that they can use it for discretionary spending. This will prevent them from stacking up large bills or going for lines of credit. If controlling their finances becomes challenging for you, consider hiring a money manager. The manager will help you or your parents set up an automatic bill payment system and track spending.

Ask your siblings to chip in

Enlisting the help of your siblings should be your top priority when taking care of your parents. This will allow you to share the costs and ensure your parents have the best care possible. Your siblings should only chip in if they are in a good financial position to do so.

Unfortunately, money can be a sensitive issue even when people are on good terms. Some of your siblings may not be open to the idea and may not be ready to help. You are also likely to have differences in how you should split the costs. You may decide to contribute equal amounts or varying amounts based on how much each of you makes. The burden of cost may be heavier on you if you are an only child. However, you can talk to friends and people of good will especially if you have to foot a medical bill for extended care in a hospital.

Family and close friends can also help in other ways apart from contributing money. For example, some can run errands and others can help with chores around the home.

Be thrifty

You can save lots of money in the long run by being thrifty. Start by taking advantage of discounts offered to senior citizens at restaurants and department stores. Shopping for staples and groceries with reward cards or coupons can help you or your parents keep some extra cash. If you must replace electronics or appliances, consider buying second-hand or discounted models.

Get help

Once your parents are unable to take care of themselves, due to illnesses or age, your first instinct will be to let go of everything and start handling their needs yourself. This is understandable because you are their child. But it should not come at the expense of your career. If it does, think of how it will affect your life for the coming years.

The needs of your family, your sanity, and retirement savings will be impacted by this decision. To avoid this, get help from a care manager. The manager will do all the heavy lifting for you. For a small fee, the manager will:

Handle medical payments.
Schedule doctor’s appointments.
Deal with insurance.
Help you find an in-home care or nursing home.
Help you spend money wisely through proper budgeting.

Getting help from a care manager is far better than putting your career and other things on hold to take care of your aging parents.

Conclusion

Taking care of your aging parents is a challenge that you should not handle alone. The best thing is to get informed and know what it takes to take care of the elderly. Communicate to people close to you so that you can reduce the burden on yourself. It is also important to be strong, resilient, and patient because emotional and financial stress can easily consume you during this journey. Although your focus is to make your parents comfortable and to give them the best care, do not forget to take care of yourself too.

Author Harper Harmon is a freelance writer and blogger who focuses on business, health and other various topics. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in communication from UCLA and currently resides in Santa Cruz with her dog, Sassy.