My mother, 85, was evicted from her out-of-state apartment a couple years ago. I went and got her and brought her to my home so that she wouldn't be homeless in the winter. That was shortly before the pandemic began and shortly after my 2nd partner died.
I am the sole caregiver. My mother and I both have chronic health issues. My mom's condition is getting to the point where I don't think I can handle this situation much longer. She has had mental health conditions for decades so that it would be hard to tell if she is getting dementia.
My intention when I brought her here to Rochester, NY, was to find some assisted living place for her, close enough so that I could visit her at least a few times per week and make sure she is okay. The places I looked at were so expensive, that they would have emptied her life savings in a few months. I'm told that Medicare, her only source of income, would not pay for assisted living housing.
I really don't have a clue what people do in this situation, when a parent needs some serious assisted living, but isn't wealthy.
Any constructive advice would be appreciated.
Ooops, meant to post this as a reply to Sighopinion below.
In short too many people read the requirements and just cave when anything is possible. Sure the selection will be limited but beggers cannot be choosers.
At this point, she would not qualify for Medicaid because her savings are over the limit. And yet, if she did live in assisted living housing, her savings would be very quickly gone.
Medicaid is designed to step in only when the elder's assets are spent down. Whatever she has will get taken by them including the savings account. I wouldn't worry about that part. If you are not medically able to be her caregiver for free, she will have to go to a place where she does get caregivers for free.