Free in home care for seniors in Florida under the Waiver program

Attorney Tom Olsen: Tell us who your typical client is.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Our typical client lately has been people that-- Usually, it's a husband and wife, a husband is trying to take care of wife, she's got either Parkinson's or dementia, and he's having a hard time taking care of her, let's say they're both in their late 80s or 90s, so we have been really trying to get them on that long-term care waiver by Medicaid to give husband a break, 30 hours a week for free, still gets to live with his wife, can keep the assets, can keep the income all internal, and that buys them a little bit more time together. That's what we've been seeing a lot lately.

Tom: That's important that we talk about this because it's such a great service available through the state of Florida, the waiver program where the state of Florida will pay somebody to come into your home and help you for up to 30 hours a week with dressing, bathing, light cooking, light cleaning, et cetera.

Robert: Medications.

Tom: Right. That if you are taking care of your parents, and it's great and wonderful, God bless you, but you'd like to have a little bit of help, or if you're taking care of your spouse and you need a little bit of help and a little bit of time out of the house, this waiver program would be a great service available to you.

Robert: It is a perfect service. The issue becomes you can't wait until you're on fire to get it, because in Orlando, there's a lot of people wanting it. If you wanted to get on the program, it would take you almost two months just to get an interview.

Tom: Got you.

Robert: Because it's needs-based. Unlike Medicaid at a nursing home, you have to be interviewed, get a score of five, and that's another new thing at the Olson Law Group. We have Lindsay Lamberty, who used to work at the group that did the interviews. Now, she is coaching some of our clients on the appropriate way to answer the questions because they can be confusing, and it helps them rethink, okay, I really am doing this much for my mom or my dad, because a lot of times you're just doing, but you're really not comprehending how much, in fact, you're doing or how much help you're giving. It really opens their eyes, and then they can get that score of five and move on forward.

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