My 88 year old father has dementia and I am POA for several months and manage all his affairs. He has a small/modest savings and fixed income that just about cover his monthly expenses. I see his savings as to be needed as his care needs increase. As we all know those are costly (i.e. 24/7 care, etc). One of his other children from another marriage wants to visit from another country and bring her two kids and she wants him to pay for their airfare and some of their visit expenses. I just applied my dad for Medicaid for some elder services. He once said he'd help them with airfare, but he has no memory for or idea about his income and balances. I am in the unfortunate position of having to preserve his funds for his care - what do I tell her when she asks? Since I am his POA and applying him for Medicaid, would I even be allowed to give this "gift"?
Tell your 1/2 siblings that the government won't let him pay and, if he does, they will remove him from the program.
I have heard of respectable POA holders allowing reasonable travel expenses to be paid to visiting children. But I have to agree with SueC that paying these and then at the same time claiming state support for health care is not going to wash.
But... it IS of benefit to your father to see his daughter, and possibly his grandchildren. Is there really not going to be any other way for her to get there? If she's experiencing genuine financial hardship, can anyone else in the family help?