Business & Professional

SERVICE

Home Sweet Home

New Medicaid funding provides for elderly at home.

Alison Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

A

fter nine years of caring for his
wife, who suffered from demen-
tia, a client of attorney Don L.
Rosenberg had gone through $700,000,
which was all his life's savings.
"He had nothing left by the time he
came to me. It really was heartbreak-
ing and it did not have to be that way:'
said Rosenberg, principal partner of
the Center for Elder Law, a division of
Barron, Rosenberg, Mayoras & Mayoras
P. C. in Troy.
It's a devastating scenario that elder-
law attorney Rosenberg hears about all
too frequently when he meets with fami-
lies and a situation that plays out day
after day across Michigan. Last year, the
American Alzheimer's Association esti-
mated the value of unpaid care provided
to people with dementia or Alzheimer's
disease in Michigan was more than $5.2
billion.
Until recently, families often had to
choose between placing aging loved ones
into nursing homes in order to access
state funding, or care for them at home
at their or their families' expense, which
can take a tremendous emotional and
financial toll.
But that dilemma just became easier
for Michigan's 1.3 million caregivers of
elderly family members.

State Support
Thanks to a dramatic increase in state
government funding, $147 million has
been allocated to in-home care for seniors
and disabled adults who meet eligibility
requirements. Those families will now be
able to protect the lifetime of savings they
and their loved ones worked so hard to
accrue. Better yet, instead of waiting years
for any type of financial assistance, help
can be available in a few months through
the MI Choice Waiver Program.
Unraveling Medicaid's complicated
maze of strict laws, guidelines and regu-
lations governing the financial require-
ments, however, is far from easy.
And so Rosenberg, who is also chair-
man of the board of directors and
public policy chair of the Alzheimer's
Association-Greater Michigan Chapter,
and his law partners, Ronald Barron,

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November 11 • 2010

Andrew Mayoras and Danielle Mayoras,
have created the Home Sweet Home
Initiative to help families get the finan-
cial help they are entitled to receive
under the law.
"The state government now real-
izes they it can save significant dollars.
Instead of spending approximately
$4,500 a month to keep someone in
a nursing home, it can pay $1,500 to
$2,000 for in-home care explains
Rosenberg.
"If I had the choice, I know I'd rather
stay at home than be put in a nursing
home and I think most people share that
sentiment:'
This is why the state has established
certain priorities to "leap frog" the wait-
ing list (which can be two years or more
for the general public) for in-home waiv-
er or nursing home transition services.

Real Example
One of Rosenberg's current clients is an
elderly woman who suffers from dementia
and needs full-time care at the Jewish
apartment where she lives.
"She recognizes family members, but
really can't care for herself:' said her son,
who prefers to remain anonymous. "She
isn't able to cook, clean or dress herself. If
I go out of the room, she'll be surprised
to see me when I walk back in."
Keeping his mother at the apartment
has cost his family tens of thousands of
dollars. "Her income from Social Security
and other sources are insufficient to
cover rent, utilities and her caregiver:'
said her son.
However, her family was reluctant to
put her in a nursing home because they
felt her care would suffer. They are work-
ing with Rosenberg to get her accepted
into the MI Choice Waiver Program to
receive the financial help she needs to
stay at home.
"My mother is very familiar with her
apartment, her building and her care-
giver:' said her son. "I am so relieved that
Don has been able to help us because I
really believe it would have been a ter-
rible trauma for her to move into an
unfamiliar environment."
Rosenberg, a resident of Oak Park and
a 25-year member of Congregation Beth
Shalom, believes that many people are
suffering unnecessarily because they

"If I had the choice, I know I'd
rather stay at home than be put in
a nursing home and I think most
people share that sentiment."

- elder-law attorney Don L. Rosenberg

are unaware of, or don't understand, the
myriad changes in Medicaid funding.
For example, the individual trying to
receive home care and not be placed in a
nursing home, or the one who is already
in a nursing home and wants to transi-
tion back to their home, cannot have a
household income exceeding a certain
amount. Also, if services are needed
for a spouse, the ill spouse's income is
assessed, not their caregiving partner's
income.
"This program can really make a huge
difference said Rosenberg. "The influx
of Medicaid funds is one of the most
exciting developments I've seen in my
more than 25 years practicing law. It
could be that someone whose spouse is
in a nursing home could actually get to
bring them home with the support they
need."
Funds can be used to pay professional
caregivers or family members, cover per-
sonal care, homemaking, respite for care-
givers, adult day services, home-delivered
meals, transportation, private duty
nursing, personal emergency response
systems, chore service, counseling, home
injury control, medical equipment/sup-
plies and client-caregiver training.

Another Example
Rosenberg has another client who was
concerned that if she accessed services to
remain in her home, she would go through
her savings of $60,000, which she hoped
to pass on to her daughter who has multi-
ple sclerosis. He helped the woman qualify
for Medicaid and her money can remain
for her daughter.
Finally, Rosenberg understands that
not everyone who resides in a nursing
home who wants to go home is a candi-

date to receive in-home Medicaid waiver
services.
For those families that are paying
privately at nursing homes right now,
Rosenberg wants the public to under-
stand the popular belief that you have
to spend it all to receive nursing home
Medicaid benefits is simply not true.
In fact, married couples can save most,
if not all, of their life savings and assets
and single persons can save at least 50
percent and still qualify for Medicaid.

Feeling Good
Not surprisingly, Rosenberg takes great
pride in his work.
"It is very rewarding — I know I am
helping people all day long, giving them
peace of mind and financial security," he
said.
Providing hope, when people believe
there is none, gives him much personal
satisfaction.
Rosenberg, who is also chair of the
Elder Law and Disability Rights Section
of the State Bar of Michigan, knows that
family caregivers need to focus on their
own health and well being.
"It's very easy to get so wrapped
up in caring for a loved one that you
neglect your own needs:' said Rosenberg.
"Caregivers need to remember to focus
as much on themselves as the person
they are caring for."
And that is what Rosenberg pledges
to do, one family at a time, through the
Home Sweet Home Initiative. ❑

For a complimentary consultation and more
information about the Home Sweet Home

Initiative, contact the Center for Elder Law in
Troy at (248) 641-PLAN (641-7526) or
www.thecenterforelderlaw.com .