My Mom's in nursing rehab and hosp both for a month. What do we do about her social security?

Igloo thanks for all the info. I appreciate it. Mom is on Medicare and medi cal, as we live in California. The nh has told us, and the doctor, that she has been ok'd for 100 days. We are hoping rehab will be successful but she doesn't seem to be wanting to try. We have been taking care of her and paying her bills, getting her groceries, and all she needs while she was at home. But she had a TIA and was hospitalized about a month ago so that's why we were wondering if we needed to contact social security. She still has a couple bills and then we've been buying her things she needs while she's in there. I just made arrangements for an optometrist who comes to the NH to check her yes because she needs new glasses so I was hoping the social security would be continuing her checks for that and other little things that may come up but really we just didn't know what we were supposed to do. We will be talking to the nh social worker today and making sure we are on the right track. Thanks again I appreciate your answere, d

Deb - SS will be paid to your mom for the rest of her lifetime. Right now you don't need to do anything just continue to deposit the checks as before. Now your moms hospitalization and rehab @ the NH afterwards is being paid as a benefit from MediCARE (& perhaps any secondary insurance she has, but Medicare is her primary). Medicare is basically a federal generalized entitlement that all of us have paid into by having taxes & our FICA taken out of our earnings. You apply for Medicare when you turn 65. Right now from mom's SS each month about $ 100.00 is still being taken out to pay for her Medicare. Mom got an annual statement back in January from SS that shows what her monthly "income" is for 2014 and what they are taking out for her Medicare.

For those over 65 there are 3 basic entitlements:
SS which is an income based entitlement (so the more $$ you made in your or your spouse's lifetime makes a huge difference);
Medicare which is a "generalized" entitlement which means that all payments from Medicare to providers are the same from state to state;
and MedicAID which is an "at need" entitlement.

It is important that you understand what each of the 3 can do and how they are different. Why? because although MediCARE is paying for mom's care right now, once she either runs out of rehab time OR is viewed as not "progressing" sufficiently by Medicare in her rehab AND mom cannot move back home and needs to stay in the NH she will need to find a way to pay for her continued long term care stay @ the NH. Medicare does NOT pay for long term care. For most, that means that the elder applies for MedicAID. MedicAID pays for about 60 - 70% of all the NH stays by the elderly in the US. Medicaid because it is an "at-need" entitlement, you have to show you are at need both financially and medically. Medicaid is uniquely managed by each state, so the ceiling for their "income" and "assets" is set by each state - most have it as no more than 2K in assets and 2K in income (but income can vary when I applied for my mom in TX income was a max of $ 2,094.00 but now in 2014 it is now as $ 2,163.00 max a month). Here's where mom's SS check again is important, as once mom applies for Medicaid for NH, then she will be required to do a co-pay or her "SOC" (share of cost in Medicaid-speak) of all her monthly income to the NH. So that SS check will have to get paid to the NH. Mom will get to keep a small amount of her monthly income as her "personal needs allowance" which ranges from $ 35 - 90 a month depending on your state's Medicaid program. (My mom's in TX and it is $ 60 a month and really covers just the costs of beauty shoppe and some clothing replacement).

I would try to speak with the therapists pretty regularly to see how your mom is "progressing" - if she just flat isn't, then Medicare will stop paying for her care & her stay @ the NH. The 100 days is not guaranteed, it is a maximum benefit by Medicare. Also after a certain amount of days, they are expected to do a co-pay towards their care that seems to be about $ 148.00 a day - if mom has a good secondary insurance policy they usually will pay this matched up to the days that Medicare is paying. Otherwise it will have to be private pay for the co-pay, so mom would use her SS income to pay for some of this. If you get the vibe that mom will need to stay @ the NH, then speak with social worker & admissions as to the Medicaid application and what they (the NH) want to see to accept mom as a "Medicaid Pending" resident. Most NH have a list of the financial documents required to accompany the Medicaid application. Most of the time you fill out the Medicaid application @ the NH and give them a copy of all the documents required; in turn the NH submits all this & their bill to the Medicaid caseworker for their area. It can be a lot of scurrying around and hunting for bank statements, insurance policies, property ownership details, etc of mom's to be done and very stressful as Medicaid is very specific on what has to be submitted and in a very time sensitive manner. You can easily be overwhelmed between all this and dealing with mom's needs and care in rehab. So do what you can to start on all this sooner rather than later. Good luck, Deb!

Medicare agreed to pay for 100 days and she has medical. The nursing facility has not asked us for her checks. She is in rehab. At this point in time we don't know how it's going to play out. We are hoping she will respond to rehab. I was just wondering if social security needed to be contacted. My sister and I will find out. And I appreciate all your input. Thank u, d

SS should be automatically deposited in her account. She is legally collecting it, so I wouldn't worry about it until you know something more definite. Then if needed her POA can change her mailing address at the local office.

i will contact social security. we really dont know at this point in time if she will be responding to rehab or not, and if not it will be a long term placement. we are hoping that is not the way it will go but are unable to care for her at home as she is now.

I am amazed that the hospital isn't taking her Social Security. How is her hospitalization being paid for? just be aware that in some states they can come after adult children for the care of a parent who receives state or county financial support.the state claims that you pay for your Social Security and that money is yours but then when the parent dies they come after the children to repay the state.

Social Security continues as long as she is alive. Or maybe I don't understand the question... If she does not return home you would need to report a change of address to her new place if she is competent or to the POA's address and supply a copy to SSA.