Nursing Homes

Veterans and their families should become more informed about benefits available. Too often, Veterans go without services they need simply because they are unaware of benefits they've earned through their service. According to a recent report, about 105,000 veterans were using the Aid and Assistance benefit (A&A) last year. Yet the pool of potential recipients is so much bigger. There are 2.3 million World War II, 2.6 million Korean War vets, and 7.7 million Vietnam vets still living.

For example, millions of Veterans fail to access the A&A benefit, which is meant to help aging veterans and their surviving spouses, pay for care at home, in an assisted-living facilities, or in a nursing homes.

The A&A benefit can pay up to $1,949 per month to provide care for single or married veterans or their surviving spouses at home, in assisted living facilities, or in a nursing homes. Applicants must meet certain medical and financial thresholds,

USA Today and our own local Island Packet newspapers have strories on the results of the latest 5 star ranking system employed by the federal Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services.

Two local nursing homes received top ratings. According to the packet:

"TidePointe's Broad Creek Care Center and the Preston Health Center at the Cypress of Hilton Head Island received five stars. The Seabrook's Fraser Health Center earned four stars. The Life Care Center of Hilton Head had one star."      

Kudos to the unnamed director of a top ranked facility to mention how imperfect this ranking sytem is. The Life Care Center, which received a 1 star rating, is the only home mentioned that accepts MediCAID as a payment source where the the others are primarily private pay for long-term stays. The Medicaid re-imbursement system hinders the Life Care Center in providing all of the same  services as the others. And, as Lt. Governer A. Bauer notes correctly, there is no substitute for a first hand visit to a nursing home before deciding on its acceptability.

Also interesting is how the USA Today story notes that not-for-profit nursing homes generally ranked higher than for-profits across the country.  Not-for profit homes usually accept MediCAID as source of payment and it is often a misconception that MediCAID nursing homes are automatically inferior to private pay homes.