BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Retirement can be expensive, and sometimes the cost of care can bankrupt you. A Vermont family tried to navigate the system and lost a loved one in a transition.
“My mother’s story is not a unique one. Unfortunately, anyone who’s dealing with aging parents right now, everyone’s going to run into this. And it’s frightening,” said Karen Pike of South Burlington.
Karen Pike’s mother was a force to be reckoned with. Entering retirement, she was mentally and physically active with half a million dollars in the bank. About four years before she died, she developed dementia and needed to be placed in memory care.
“She was in private care and everything was fine at the cost of about $10,000 a month, so she went through her ample savings pretty quick,” said Pike.
The private facility told Pike that when her mother ran out of money they would help her transition to Medicaid-reimbursed housing, but that wasn’t the case. No long-term care facility would take Pike’s mother because she didn’t qualify for Medicaid until she was broke. On top of that, all the facilities were full with long wait lists.
“And I said in three months, my mom is going to be homeless,” said Pike.
That’s when senior housing non-profit Cathedral Square announced they were opening a memory care facility, and Pike’s mom could have a spot when it opened. Her story was one CEO Kim Fitzgerald has heard countless times.
“What are you going to do with your loved one if you have no place for them to go? You’re going to have to care for them, and if they need 24/7 care, which many of them do, how are you going to be able to provide that? Without staying home yourself, and that puts your whole family in jeopardy,” said Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald says the biggest barrier to expanding low-income housing for seniors is the cost of staffing compiled with low Medicaid reimbursement rates. She also says right now, Medicaid only reimburses 30-40% of what nursing home care costs.
“Each year we see it getting worse and worse. The reimbursement is not covering costs, and there’s less and less people taking Medicaid as a result,” said Fitzgerald.
“It was scary. It was really scary,” said Pike.
Pike’s mother was lucky enough to find a spot eventually, but it didn’t last long. Pike says three days after arriving at Cathedral Square, her mother passed away.