How to get free in home care for seniors in Florida using the Waiver Program

So, I handle most of the all of the asset protection and Medicaid planning at the firm. So, if you had a loved one that was in skilled um in rehab and was transitioning into skilled nursing, I can help you protect the assets, get you qualified, help with the application, and get you on those benefits. or more importantly, we're really trending towards pre-planning, Tom, like you know, and if you have a loved one that needs some extra help at home, uh we can get somebody on a program called the long-term care waiver that will allow for home health care. Um and they don't have to pay for it. They don't like giving money to a facility and they're not private paying. It is really a growing trend and it is all geared towards people don't want to go to a facility. They want to live at home and they want to age in place. — So folks hear that and they go, "What are they talking about? " Well, let's just make it simple for you. We're going to call it the waiver program. You call Olsen Law Group and we say, "I want to know more about the waiver program. " We'll know what you're talking about. So if you're out there and you're living, it is meant to keep people out of a nursing home. So, if you're out there living and by yourself and you want to continue to live at home, hey, everybody does, but you need just a little bit of help, this waiver program will provide up to 30 hours per week of free inhome care. Robert, what would they be? What kind of care would they be giving you for that 30 hours? So they will do uh cooking, they'll do light cleaning. They'll assist with all activities of daily living, bathing, dressing, toileting. They will assist with medication. They can give you rides to doctor's offices. Um it also makes them eligible for meals on wheels. And if they are cognitively impaired, they can actually even get adult daycare. — Wow. If you have an elderly parent here in the state of Florida and they're living at home and maybe you're helping to take care of them, but you need a little bit of help to help care for your parents, this would also be something you want to pursue on their behalf, this waiver program. And again, that's uh Florida waiver program here at the Olsson Law Group. We have free booklets on it. That booklet title is called How to Get Free inhome Care for Seniors. It's a booklet where that we wrote. Robert, I think this is the first time I've noticed for you that when you say that when they qualify for the free inhome care, they're automatically qualified for meals on wheels. Hey, that means a lot to me because back in the day, I used to deliver the meals on wheels to people. — Yeah. My mother used to do that as well. And you know, think about it. There's a lot of people that don't have support around them. If you're 85, 90 and you can't live in, you know, can't cook, um, they drop food off for you. And I think it's a beautiful thing. — Well, I got to say is, of course, that was volunteer service that I did on just because I wanted to, but it, you know, the driving to somebody's house, walking up to their front door, ringing the doorbell, giving them their own meals on wheels, they were always so grateful, not only for the food, but for just a little bit of human contact. — Absolutely. It gets very isolating when someone is only in a home. As they're aging and they're fragile, their world gets smaller and smaller. So, they're desperate for that contact. — Folks, if you want more information on this free inhome care for seniors, we're available to talk to you about it right now. 844580-9326 is the number to call. We have free booklets on that. You can call Olsson Law Group anytime at 407-423-5561 and get that free booklet or you can order it through our website olslawgroup. com. Robert, you and I do monthly workshops. Mine is on easy ways to avoid probate. Yours is on the free and home care for senior and protecting your wealth from the cost of a nursing home. Man, in the last few months, your bookshop is your workshop has been filling up and being overfilled up, man. The word is getting out there, Robert. — It really is, you know, and our workshop is a little long, but and people just love it so much. And u I'm almost thinking we're going to have to go and do two a month now. Last week, we had 16 people in our conference room. Um, and everyone thanked us so much. And you know what, Tom? Everyone will always say, "How come we didn't know about this waiver first? " You know, we didn't know any of this stuff. And I'm like, "Education. " And so when we talk about pre-planning, when we look at the infancy of it, Tom, it's education. Because there's so many misconceptions of, oh, they're going to take my house. I got to spend all my assets. I got too high in income. I can't get home health care. But we can take care of everything. And — so we're out here spreading the word as fast as we can, Robert. And people are picking it up. And by the way, I was out walking Max, our dog, the other day, and my neighbor talked to my neighbor Ed, and he goes, "Hey, I enjoyed your workshop. " I go, "Ed, you came to our

workshop. " And you knew my neighbor and even they are, you know, they're I hate to use this word elderly because we don't know what that means wise. And hey, I'm 70. But, uh, you know, there I can see that they would be candidates for this going down the road. — It is. And it it's I I'll use the word fragile instead of elderly. — Good for you. — And it's going to it takes time. Like right now is with this with the waiver. It's a weight listed program. So, you have to call and you have to receive an interview or a screening. And if you did that right now, you're not getting a screening until early June. So, you really have to plan ahead um knowing when it's coming. And I I'll speak from real life experience. Back in February, February 18th to be exact, I actually did the waiver um screening um at Senior Resource Alliance for my mother and I did the 45minute interview. um with Senior Resource Alliance. The woman who interviewed me was very nice, very kind. And at the end, my mom scored a five. And then about probably 3 days ago, they called me up and they said, "Your mom just got called off released from the weight list. Are you ready to get ready to apply? " And I actually physically went through it. I did it. I know what it is to tell our clients what it's like and it's it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought. Right, — Robert? I'm glad that you've got some real life experience with this for doing it for your mom. So, tell me again you step number one was filing — is calling to get the interview date. — Step number one, call to get an interview date. Then once you get that interview date, um Lindsay, you know, our Medicaid specialist, she helps pre-screen you. We she used to work for this agency that does the screenings for Central Florida and she reviews it with you and she reviewed it with me and to answer appropriately so not to get confused. And then when we had when the lady called me for the real interview, you either have a morning session or an afternoon session. And she called me right at 1:30. We went through the interview and it was not threatening. It wasn't like they were badgering you or questioning your answers. And at the end of it, she said, "Your mom got a five. We'll let you know as soon as she gets called off of the weight list. " And what that means is once you're called off the wait list, then the 30084 needs to go to the do her primary care doctor to fill out and then once you can do that, you can get going. That's really fascinating, Robert. I'm so glad that you're able to share your real life experience with that. And I'll be uh standing by to hear more about how it actually goes down. Now, your mom clearly she's willing to let somebody come into the home up to 30 hours per week in a sister like this. Some elderly people may not be comfortable with that, but I think we talked about a solution to that one time that it was, hey, just give them a few hours, see how it goes first. — Yeah. I mean, and it's primarily a lot of people that have cognitive abilities don't like strangers coming into their house, but you can certainly private pay a person to come in for a little bit and see how they acclimate to a new person. And because realistically, the other options are not good. It's either, you know, the caregiver keep trying to do it themselves and they run the risk of getting sick themselves or burned out — or you run the risk of having to go put them into a facility. You know, even assisted living memory care is going to cost 7 $8,000 a month if you're private paying. And then the other alternative is skilled nursing. And we know everybody wants to stay home. And so it's like you can't have your cake and eat it too. So if you don't like people coming in, these are your other options. And I think usually once they kind of figure out that, yeah, I need help. It makes it a lot easier. — It's all about letting people stay in their home as long as they can. That's what people want. I mean, across the board, I'm going to say 100%. So we're helping people to do that by getting this uh free 30 hours of inhome care every week. And by the way, I say in home, but it also if you live in an apartment, your kids' grandma's suite, if all of that's available to you, no matter where you live, not it doesn't require that you own a home. — Correct. And even if you're at a facility that's classified as independent living, you can qualify for it and get the home health care.