When it comes to paying for home care, the drawback many families cite is money.

And understandably so.

While home health care is usually covered by most insurance companies (including Medicaid and Medicare), home care usually is not.

So how are you supposed to pay for it?

If the thought of paying for your loved one’s care out-of-pocket is blocking your decision, this post is for you.

In this post, I will share about the PACE program and how it could help you and your elderly loved one pay for home care.

Paying for home care

Find out if your loved one has retirement savings that could cover the costs

Yes, this post is about the PACE program but, it is helpful to find out if your loved one has any money saved up that you can use to pay for home care.

If your elderly loved one worked for a corporation that offered a retirement plan, find out if they still have money in their savings account.

If they do, this will help immensely with out-of-pocket costs.

Look into the PACE program

PACE stands for Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. It is a Medicaid and Medicare program that allows the elderly to keep living in their home or community instead of going to a nursing home.

In order to qualify, your loved one has to “in need of nursing home-level services”.

If you live in an area where PACE is offered and your elderly loved one meets this criteria, you could apply for and receive the PACE program.

• You must have Medicaid or Medicare to join PACE
• Age must be 55 or older
• Must be able to live safely with the help of PACE
• And as I mentioned above, they must need nursing home-level care

What does it cover?

PACE will cover the following services

• Home care
• Adult day care
• Nursing home care
• Nutritional counseling
• Occupational therapy
• Physical therapy
• Prescription drugs
• Preventative services
• Social work counseling

Amongst other services.

But for the purposes of this blog post, it is important to note that PACE will cover home care costs.

And so if you live in an area that PACE covers and meet the criteria above, you should be able to access the program.

This way, your loved one can continue living at home and in the community they love.

To find out if you live in an area where you can get PACE, go here.

You should also be able to get this information by calling your local Medicaid office.