Caregivers often have to significantly reduce their working hours or quit their jobs in order to provide quality care for their loved one. This means that caregivers are spending several hours assisting loved ones with daily tasks, cooking meals, taking them to appointments, ensuring their safety and well-being, and providing companionship, without being compensated for their time.
Many government programs allow family members of veterans and people with disabilities to get paid to care for them:
- The Medicaid Self-Directed Care program
-Lets qualified people manage their own health services
-Hire family members as caregivers in some states
- The Veteran-Directed Home and Community Based Services program
-Allows veterans a flexible budget
– Allows them to choose goods and services they find most useful, including hiring a family member or neighbor as a personal care aide
- Aid and Attendance benefits for veterans
– Work in conjunction with a VA pension
– Helps cover the costs of a caregiver, who may be a family member
- Long-Term Care Insurance
-Allows family members to be paid as caregivers. But some policies won’t pay family members who live with the person they’re caring for.
Steps to becoming a paid family caregiver:
Step 1: Determine Your Eligibility for Medicaid’s Self-Directed Services Programs
Self-directed services programs provide people with disabilities, including older adult citizens, the option to manage a budget and determine how to use their money to pay for goods and services directly relating to their personal care needs.
Step 2: Opt into a Home and Community-Based Services Program
Older adults are eligible for a home and community-based services program (HCBS). HCBS programs deliver ongoing support and care oversight to assist caregivers while providing them with a tax-free daily stipend to make the financial burden of caregiving easier to bear.
Step 3 :Determine Whether Your Loved One Is Eligible for Veterans Aid
In the United States, some veterans can enroll in a Veteran Directed Care Program (previously known as Veteran-Directed Home and Community Based Services programs). This program empowers veterans to manage their own care, which may include hiring and paying for in-home caregivers.
Step 4: Determine Whether Your Loved One Has a Long-Term Care Insurance Policy That Provides for Caregiver Compensation
If you can determine whether your loved one has such a policy, you need to find out if caregiver payment is one of the benefits.
Step 5: Determine Whether Your Company Offers Paid Leave for Caregivers
As more families require at least one member to serve as a caregiver for aging parents, companies are realizing the need to assist employees with paid leave.
Step 6: Determine Whether Your Family is Willing to Pay You for Your Caregiving Time
Considering the amount of money you are saving your loved one and the rest of the family by serving as the primary caregiver, you are well within your rights to ask your loved one or other family members if they will compensate you for your time.
Requirements to become a paid caregiver:
- Pass a criminal conviction background check.
- Provide picture ID and be authorized to work in the U.S.
- Not be the spouse of the person receiving care.
Benefits of becoming a caregiver:
You will find out who has your back:
When someone is there for you in your most challenging moments, you’ll develop a deep trust. Caregiving helps you realize which relationships are dependable and further strengthens them.
You will not have to worry about your loved ones receiving care:
You know your parents and grandparents better than any nursing home. Caring for a family member takes away the guilt and worry which comes with keeping them under the care of an institution like old-age retreats or nursing homes.
You will become confident in your ability to handle anything:
You will talk to doctors, nurses, case managers, lawyers, and physical therapists. You’ll learn to administer medications and help someone dress, among other new skills. Caregiving will prepare you for curveballs at work, as a parent, and in all areas of life.
Conclusion
Providing care to a family member can be tasking but if you are taking it up as a full-time job, it can be rewarding and soul satisfying. We hope you find the above guidelines helpful in nominating a person of your choosing to be assigned as your official caregiver or becoming a caregiver yourself.
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