Financial Aid for Caregiver?

Question

I have a friend whose dad is a retired veteran on home hospice care and disability.  They have a visiting nurse and the daughter quit her job to stay home and take care of the basic needs of the dad and home ie cleaning, cooking, chores, errands, and helping him get around the house when he needs to walk around.  
She doesn't qualify for unemployment because she left her previous job.  If she gets money from the VA they will in turn cut some of her dad's pay.  
She wants to be able to receive a check much in the same way an unemployed person receives one.  This job of taking care of her dad is extremely necessary and can be done by her.
Another thing to mention is that she is pregnant and will have a hard time finding a job in that condition anyways.  
The agency aid for dependent families, Medicaid, and Medicare have all pointed her in wrong directions or told her she can only have money that pertains to her pregnancy.
She is not married at the moment because the guidelines are even worse if she was married.  There would even be less money to help take care of her dad and she wants to spend his last days with him.  
Her fiancé makes $12 per hour.  They get some food stamps.  They really don't have money left for anything else.  
She needs money for her personal needs.  Can anyone point us in the right direction?

? · Accepted Answer

Why would she get VA benefits? She should have kept her job and hired someone to take care of Dad or put him in a nursing home. Catholic Charities has low cost home health care. I dont know what your question is. No one can pay her. Her father is getting disability or Social Security and he can give her some of that.

Achelios · Answer

she isn't getting pointed in the wrong direction -- she is getting pointed in the only direction available for her to go

as you said... if she claims care-giver money from the VA, they will reduce his check to help cover hers

from the VAs standpoint -- it is HIS responsibility to pay his care-giver (same would be true if he was on medicare... they don't provide care givers either)

there is not money like unemployment & she does not qualify for unemployment --- so that is a deadend

medicaid will only cover whatever the state's medicaid covers... if she lives in AL, then ONLY coverages is for the pregnancy... not other things for her while pregnant... but the coverage specifically for the pregnancy & the coverage for her ends when she has the baby... the baby might still qualify for coverage because with no income it is not possible for her income to be too high for medicaid coverage for the child

in most cases, people do not get paid to take care of family member... simple as that

her only possible option to get paid is to apply as an employee of the home-health agency that is providing a visiting nurse to help care of dad & if there is an unskilled labor position that can be compensated for in caring for her dad... then she might find she can get paid at least some hours through the agency (there might not be a compensated position for this & if so.. then even this won't work)

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Financial Aid for Caregiver?

2 Answers