Many
residents have asked the question, "How does Homestead Village provides charitable care?" It is a key part of our mission and our
non-profit, charitable status.
Charitable care starts with the generosity of others. Homestead Village is able to provide charitable
care because our generous and caring stakeholders have contributed to our
endowment. That endowment provides the
additional revenue needed to cover the cost of the charitable care. Another key to providing charitable care is careful
budgeting and operations. Knowing that
we have a commitment to provide charitable care, we are careful with our
resources. The final piece of the charitable
puzzle is ensuring that the need for charity does not exceed our ability to
provide it. That means appropriate screen of new residents in all levels of care to ensure that they can pay for their services most of their life.
Most
residents of Homestead Village (and most other retirement communities) pay for
their services with their own funds.
Other non-charitable sources of payment are long-term care insurance and
Medicare. Medicare has many forms and
primarily pays for the first 30-100 days of care in a nursing home as well as
for medications, therapy, physician services and other ancillary
services. Long-term care insurance pays
in most licensed areas of care, including nursing care, personal care and home
care when a recipient meets the medical requirements of the plan.
For most of us, if we live long enough, we might outlast our assets. It doesn't help that as we get older, we require additional assistance which costs more money. The end result for many people is the inability to pay their full bill. When this occurs, we ask the resident to write a letter detailing the situation and provide a full accounting of their financial situation, including all assets, income, expenses and debts. Homestead Village's CFO, Brent Messner, then makes a determination as to the amount of charitable financial assistance necessary to meet the full bill. The resident continues to pay as much as they can afford. That is how charitable care is provided in residential living and personal care.
In the nursing home, charitable care is governed by the Medicaid program. Medicaid requires in most cases, a recipient to spend down most of their assets. Exceptions are made for the spouse in the community and residents can often keep their homes; but the Department of Human Services is likely to put a lean on the home to recoup Medicaid payments. Residents applying for Medicaid must provide their financial information to the county assistance office, which makes the determination as to how much of the nursing home bill will be paid by the Commonwealth and how much will be the responsibility of the resident.
