Posted on Mar 19, 2015
SPC Barrett Johnson
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Not sure what to do or who to talk to. My fathers a Vietnam vet and was living in my house(for about 3 years) up until December when my family couldn't take care of him (and the VA home health) anymore due to his Parkinson's and dementia. The Texas State Veterans home said since my father has nothing to his name except the little he receives for his Social Security he should revive Medicaid in about 45 days. I called the Texas state Medicaid number last week to check the status and they "forgot" to assign a case number so his paperwork hasn't been started and said it would take about 45 days to come to a decision.. I've been paying all of my dads SS income to the VA home plus about $1,300/month out of pocket (+if Medicaid doesn't cover 100% of the VA home I don't receive any of that money back). I've been fortunate to have a good federal job at a prison and I have a 80% rating from the VA but this whole experience had depleted everything financially. I'm at the point now where my auto and mortgage payment will start to be late next month. Do I keep going and working a lot of OT in hopes that Medicaid pulls thru? The VA homes making money but at the cost of screwing over another vet. My 3 kids are starting to eat a lot of ramen noodles, can't take them to doctor appointments. Afew weeks ago my "high blood pressure" after working 3 doubles in a row dropped to 86/42 and all that kept me from going to the ER was saving that co pay for the VA home.
I have friends saying they might be taking advantage of me and I should get an attorney who deals with this stuff because they should just take his SS income and I shouldn't be left paying all of this.
Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do or who I could talk to? Because I've hit a wall, I'm trying to do the right thing but something got to give soon.
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Hi Barrett--I'm really sorry to hear about your dad and its a crazy complicated process. Not sure if it might be of any use, but I just posted an article we put out on nursing home decisions/decision-making. http://prismhealthadvocates.com/de-mystifying-the-hunt-for-assisted-living-when-and-how-to-choose-the-right-facility/ While its not specifically focused on military nursing homes, the decision-making process is pretty similar. We're also always happy to do a free 30min discussion/consultation and might be able to come up with some suggestions for you: + [login to see]

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