Affording Death
Hospital bed, medications, supplies, doctor, in-home nursing visits, home health aides - all will be needed for a dying loved one and all will cost money.
How will you pay for it? Even after all medical treatment toward a cure ends and the decision has been made to come home to die there are still ongoing medical and caregiving needs and those expenses come home too.
Fortunately, there is also hospice.
Hospice cares for those dying at home (as well as in in-patient facilities) and usually accepts Medicare or Medicaid as payment as well as serves patients with private insurance.
However, they will not turn down anyone without these resources.
Any Medicare approved Hospice will provide care free of charge to those in need.
They will cover all expenses related to the disease including medications, equipment, nursing assistance etc.
You will be provided with a case doctor, usually two nurses, a home health aide, a social worker and other personnel as needed to bring comfort care to your loved one.
You can expect any necessary equipment such as a hospital bed, in-room potty, wheelchair and more delivered right to your door and usually within a day.
You can also expect medications, diapers, chux pads, salves, and other items related to caring for your loved one also delivered to you.
Everything necessary to bring comfort care to your loved one in their last days will be provided.
Hospice won't cover other medical necessities, such as medications, not related to the disease.
So, for example, if your loved one takes a medication for a thyroid illness but their terminal illness is not connected to the thyroid then that medication will not be covered.
Your loved one will have a doctor overseeing care, a nurse that comes to your home, a CNA to help with bathing and hygiene.
You can receive instruction and support from these experts so that you know you are caring as best you can when hospice is not in the home.
With so much being taken care of for you, you can focus your attention on caring for your loved one rather than procuring things for him or her.
While caring for my mother who was dying of cancer I didn't have to worry about the expense of providing all that Hospice brought to our home.
I let them do their job so that I could do mine - loving mom up to her last breath and beyond.
I could not have afforded to pay for all that they did and the support and care I received was priceless.
How will you pay for it? Even after all medical treatment toward a cure ends and the decision has been made to come home to die there are still ongoing medical and caregiving needs and those expenses come home too.
Fortunately, there is also hospice.
Hospice cares for those dying at home (as well as in in-patient facilities) and usually accepts Medicare or Medicaid as payment as well as serves patients with private insurance.
However, they will not turn down anyone without these resources.
Any Medicare approved Hospice will provide care free of charge to those in need.
They will cover all expenses related to the disease including medications, equipment, nursing assistance etc.
You will be provided with a case doctor, usually two nurses, a home health aide, a social worker and other personnel as needed to bring comfort care to your loved one.
You can expect any necessary equipment such as a hospital bed, in-room potty, wheelchair and more delivered right to your door and usually within a day.
You can also expect medications, diapers, chux pads, salves, and other items related to caring for your loved one also delivered to you.
Everything necessary to bring comfort care to your loved one in their last days will be provided.
Hospice won't cover other medical necessities, such as medications, not related to the disease.
So, for example, if your loved one takes a medication for a thyroid illness but their terminal illness is not connected to the thyroid then that medication will not be covered.
Your loved one will have a doctor overseeing care, a nurse that comes to your home, a CNA to help with bathing and hygiene.
You can receive instruction and support from these experts so that you know you are caring as best you can when hospice is not in the home.
With so much being taken care of for you, you can focus your attention on caring for your loved one rather than procuring things for him or her.
While caring for my mother who was dying of cancer I didn't have to worry about the expense of providing all that Hospice brought to our home.
I let them do their job so that I could do mine - loving mom up to her last breath and beyond.
I could not have afforded to pay for all that they did and the support and care I received was priceless.