SometimesSometimes people don't have family members that help with their relatives and someone might end up doing it all alone.And trying to juggle a job, which is not feasible.There's a lot of programs for the elderly and financial for the elderly.But what about the family members that need help?Financially specifically them
Medicare will cover the hospice home 100% if your loved one dies within the week, otherwise there is a daily charge that again your loved one can pay for. It will be worth every penny.
If you are in the United States go online and check out a nation-wide company called FreedomCare (FreedomCare.com) and ask them about becoming a paid family caregiver. They will tell you. They are just one of numerous companies Medicaid works with to
get live-in family caregivers paid.
Beware though. If your 'loved one' is on Medicaid and has an asset like a house or a life insurance policy, Medicaid gets paid back whatever they paid out for the caregiving.
In my own experience there is no help to be had; and in the case of a friend several years ago she had to pay for 24/7 care in the home as she had no friends or relatives who could participate. It was, as you can imagine, enormously expensive.
If your relative qualifies, financially and with identifiable care needs, for Medicaid, then Medicaid has some Long Term Care (LTC) programs which can pay a family member (or other) to care for the patient in their own home. Home and Community Based Services is what they call it (HCBS). Google it and make a phone call to your local county office to apply (the elder is the applicant, but you may need to help facilitate this for them).
Medicaid also has programs to help family caregivers but as someone said below, if the sick person has too much in assets or home value, etc, they will either deny Medicaid altogether or try somehow to reclaim anything they paid by seizing assets. From what I understand, you can put the family member's assets into a trust, and then Medicaid can't touch it, but I'm pretty sure that would need to be done PRIOR to applying to be paid as a caregiver. I'm not an attorney; you'd need to consult one to see if creating a trust is right for you. If an attorney is a financial stretch, perhaps a legal plan like LegalShield would help.
I hope that helps. It's awful to be in this position and I know how incredibly stressful it is.