If your parent or elderly relative needs assistance at home due to aging or debilitating health issues, you might be inclined to take on the responsibility of his or her care yourself. There’s nothing more fulfilling than caring for someone you love, and luckily, you can also find ways to receive pay and benefits as a caregiver.
While you may not want to consider this option at first, take into account what you are giving up to care for your loved one: possibly your full time job, health insurance, and a retirement plan. With that perspective in mind, collecting pay and benefits as a family caregiver is certainly something to look into.
How to Get Paid to Care for a Loved One
There are several questions to ask when determining how to get paid to care for your elderly parent or relative. We’ll dive into these questions in detail, so that you can see your options and decide which will applies to your situation best.
1. Are you eligible for Medicaid’s Cash & Counseling Program?
For those eligible to receive Medicaid, some states offer a Cash & Counseling Program. This financial aid program allows for seniors to manage a budget using the money allotted to them, which can include paying for a caregiver.
2. Is your loved one eligible for Veterans’ Aid?
Veteran-Directed Home and Community Based Service programs allow for seniors who qualify to take their money and care into their own hands. Benefits such as these can cover home care for veterans – which can then include compensation for family caregivers, too.
3. Will your workplace offer paid leave?
More and more companies are beginning to recognize that employees may need to take time off in order to help out a loved one, and are offering some type of paid leave. Before you decide to quit your position altogether, check with your employer to see if this may be an option for you.
4. Does your loved one’s insurance policy cover caregiver compensation?
Your loved one’s long-term care insurance policy may cover compensating a family member who acts as a caregiver. The first step here is to figure out if your loved one already has this type of policy, and then if caregiver payments are covered. This can easily be done by contacting the insurance company or agent.
5. Will your family be willing to compensate for your time?
Another option is to talk to your family members about being reimbursed for your caregiving time. While this may seem like a difficult conversation to have at first, keep in mind that you’ll want to keep your financial stresses to a minimum in order to provide your loved one with optimum care.
Receiving Pay as a Family Caregiver
Looking through these options, you can see that you have several opportunities to collect pay and benefits as a family caregiver. If you need further assistance with this, feel free to contact us at WellSprings Home Care Services at (610) 463-0880. We’ll be happy to help!
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