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9 Programs. One Call. Nobody Ever Tells You. — Transcript

by Kevin Explains · 5,553 words · 797 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Your state has already set aside this
0:01money. It is sitting in an account with
0:03a program name on it this month,
0:05appropriated, budgeted, waiting. And not
0:08one item on that list gets mailed to
0:10anybody. Every single one waits for a
0:13person to ask for it by name. Which
0:15means the deciding factor is not your
0:17income and it is not your need. It is
0:19whether you know the words. Let me prove
0:22that with the thing that actually
0:23happens on the phone because this is the
0:25part nobody explains. Call your county
0:27and say, "I need some help." and you
0:29will get whatever the person on the
0:31other end happens to think of first.
0:33They are not withholding anything. They
0:35are answering a vague question with
0:36whatever comes to mind. Call the same
0:39office, same person, same afternoon, and
0:42read them nine program names off a piece
0:44of paper and they will check each one
0:46against your file and tell you yes or no
0:48on every single item. Identical call,
0:51completely different outcome. And the
0:54difference between remembering four of
0:55them and reading all nine is measured in
0:58hundreds of dollars a month. So this
1:00entire video is that list. Get a pen
1:02because at the end you are going to read
1:04these out loud to somebody. And I am
1:06giving you the phone number now rather
1:08than holding it to the end because I
1:10would rather you had it than watched
1:11politely to get it. Every county in the
1:14United States is covered by something
1:16called an area agency on aging. There
1:19are hundreds of them. They exist under
1:20federal law and their entire function is
1:23to be the front door to everything I am
1:25about to describe. You do not have to
1:27know which program you want. That is the
1:29whole point of them. You describe your
1:31situation and they tell you what your
1:33county and your state actually have. The
1:35national line that routes you to yours
1:37is called the elder care locator.
1:40800677116.
1:43One call, not one call per program.
1:46Write that down now. And before the
1:48list, let me take away the two things
1:49that stop people from ever dialing it.
1:52The first is the word that comes to mind
1:54when somebody hears state program. And
1:56for a lot of people, that word is
1:58welfare. And they have paid their own
1:59way for 60 years, and they tune out
2:01immediately. I understand that
2:03completely. But several items on this
2:05list have no income test whatsoever. Not
2:08one. and the ones that do have limits
2:10set considerably higher than people
2:11assume because they are usually tied to
2:14a percentage of a federal figure rather
2:16than to a number that sounds poor. The
2:18second is the assumption that if you
2:20qualified for something somebody would
2:22have told you by now that is the
2:24expensive one and I want to take it off
2:25you directly. Nobody is assigned to tell
2:28you. There is no agency whose job it is
2:30to call. The system does not look
2:32outward at all. It processes what
2:34arrives and it waits. I am not a lawyer
2:36and I am not your financial adviser and
2:38the rules on this vary by state more
2:40than almost any subject I cover. I am
2:43giving you the categories that exist
2:44everywhere and the door that leads to
2:46your own state's version. My name is
2:48Kevin. I read the rules so you do not
2:51have to. If that is useful, subscribe.
2:54Now the list nine names and I am leading
2:57with the one that does the opposite of
2:59what anybody expects from a government
3:00program. The first one pays people 55
3:03and older to work. It is called the
3:06Senior Community Service Employment
3:08Program. Federal money administered
3:10through your state, placing people 55
3:12and up in part-time positions at
3:14libraries, senior centers, food banks,
3:17and public agencies. You are paid at
3:20least the local minimum wage for those
3:22hours, typically around 20 hours a week.
3:25There is an age floor of 55 and no
3:27ceiling at all. And the design of it
3:29matters. It is not charity work and it
3:31is not volunteering. It is built to fill
3:33a gap on a resume and move somebody into
3:36ordinary employment at the end of it.
3:38Now write down two words because this is
3:40the part that makes the phone call work.
3:43Title five. That is the section of the
3:45law it comes from and a number of states
3:47run it under their own local name
3:48instead. So if the program name draws a
3:51blank on the phone, say title five
3:52instead and it will land. And I want to
3:55be clear about who this is genuinely for
3:57because most people watching this are
3:59long retired and will skip it. It is for
4:01the person who retired earlier than they
4:03planned and needs some income. It is for
4:05somebody whose spouse died and who
4:07suddenly needs both money and a reason
4:09to leave the house. And it is for the
4:11person watching this on behalf of a
4:12brother or a neighbor who is 57 out of
4:15work and being told repeatedly that they
4:17are too old to be hired. That last
4:19situation is common and it is brutal and
4:21this program exists precisely for it.
4:24The second one is the largest number in
4:26this entire video for a household in the
4:28middle of it and almost nobody knows the
4:30category exists. Your state can pay a
4:33family member to be the caregiver. Every
4:36state runs its Medicaid program with
4:37something called home and community
4:39based services. And the arithmetic
4:41behind it is simple and the state worked
4:43it out a long time ago. A nursing home
4:46costs the state an enormous amount every
4:48month. Keeping somebody at home costs a
4:50fraction of that. So, the state would
4:52rather pay for care at home. And in a
4:54great many states, the person paid to
4:56provide that care can be an adult child.
4:59In some states, it can be a spouse. I
5:01want to be honest that the rules vary
5:03enormously here, more than anything else
5:04on this list, but the category exists in
5:07every single state. sit with what that
5:09means for a household where a daughter
5:11dropped a part-time or left a job
5:13entirely to look after a parent. That is
5:16happening in millions of homes in this
5:18country right now unpaid. And in a large
5:21number of those homes, there is a
5:23program that would pay for some of those
5:24hours. Here is what is actually
5:26involved. So, nobody goes in expecting
5:28it to be simple. There is an assessment
5:30of the parents care needs, which is
5:32about what help they genuinely require.
5:35There is an income and asset test. And
5:37here is the important part. It is
5:39applied to the parent rather than to the
5:41child. The adult child's own income is
5:44generally irrelevant to whether the
5:45parent qualifies. And in many states,
5:47there is a waiting list, sometimes a
5:49long one, which is exactly why the phone
5:51call matters more than anything else
5:53about it. Getting on to a list early is
5:56the single most important action in this
5:58entire category because the list does
6:00not care when you started needing help.
6:02It cares when you applied. Let me tell
6:04you about a woman I will call Ardell. 68
6:07and she rented the same secondf flooror
6:09apartment for 19 years. Her heating bill
6:11one January was $310 and she left the
6:14envelope unopened on the table for 2
6:16days because she already knew roughly
6:18what was inside it. She had heard
6:20somewhere that there was help with
6:21heating bills. She called the number on
6:23a flyer, was told she needed a different
6:25office, called that one, got a
6:27recording, and gave up. She told her
6:30sister she had called and they did not
6:31have anything for her. What she had
6:33actually done was call about one
6:35program. Three years later, her sister
6:37called the elder care locator on her
6:39behalf, four or five questions, and the
6:42person came back with three things. The
6:44heating program, which she had qualified
6:46for the entire time, her state's renter
6:49rebate, which she had never heard of and
6:52had been eligible for since the day she
6:54turned 65, and a note that her building
6:57might qualify for weatherization.
7:00None of the three years in between came
7:01back. Not a dollar. These programs pay
7:04forward from the date of approval and
7:06not one day earlier. That is the reason
7:09I put together the quiet rules. It is at
7:12kevinexplains.shop.
7:14There is a code on the screen now. So,
7:16hold your phone up to it or use the link
7:18pinned at the top of the comments or the
7:20one in the description below. It has
7:22this entire list in it in print in large
7:25type with the exact words to say on the
7:28call and what each program is called in
7:30different states. You have seven days
7:32with it. If it does not change something
7:34about what you do this week, send it
7:36back and we are done. Ardell was not
7:38lazy and she was not uninformed. She did
7:41the thing almost everybody does, which
7:43is call one office about one problem,
7:45get told no, and conclude that no was
7:48the answer for all of it. That is what
7:50this system punishes, not ineligibility,
7:53delay. And there are two things sitting
7:56underneath that second program that
7:57nobody covers. And both are worth more
7:59than most items on this list. The first
8:02is for married couples, and it is the
8:04reason a great many people wrongly
8:05believe they could never qualify for
8:07care at home. When one spouse needs
8:10long-term care and the other does not,
8:12there are rules that exist specifically
8:14so the healthy spouse is not left with
8:16nothing. They are sometimes called the
8:18spousal impoverishment provisions and
8:21that name tells you exactly what they
8:22were written to prevent. Under them, the
8:24spouse who remains at home is allowed to
8:26keep a substantial share of the couple's
8:28assets and there is a floor and a
8:30ceiling on that amount that adjusts
8:31every year. The house is generally
8:33protected entirely while that spouse
8:35lives in it. And the atome spouse is
8:37allowed to keep a minimum monthly
8:39income, which in some cases means income
8:41is actually shifted from the spouse
8:43receiving care to the one at home. So
8:45the picture people have in their heads
8:47where a couple has to be reduced to
8:49nothing before any help arrives is not
8:51how it works when one spouse is still at
8:53home. And that misunderstanding stops
8:56people from applying for years. The
8:58second is a program that exists in most
9:00states and that hardly anybody has heard
9:02of. And for the right person, it is the
9:04best arrangement available anywhere. It
9:07is called PACE, the program of
9:09all-inclusive care for the elderly. It
9:12is for people 55 and older who need a
9:14nursing home level of care but want to
9:16stay at home. What it does is unusual.
9:19It combines everything into one
9:21organization. Your doctors, your
9:23specialists, your prescriptions, your
9:25therapy, transportation, day services,
9:28home care, all coordinated by one team
9:31that is responsible for the whole
9:32picture rather than billing separately
9:34for pieces of it. It is available in
9:37roughly 30 states. For somebody on both
9:40Medicare and Medicaid, it typically
9:42costs nothing at all. And for somebody
9:44on Medicare only, there is a monthly
9:46premium. The reason it matters is that
9:49it is the one arrangement in this entire
9:52landscape where somebody is actually
9:54responsible for coordinating everything
9:56rather than a family member being handed
9:58a list of phone numbers. Ask whether
10:00there is a PACE program in your county.
10:03In a great many places there is and
10:05almost nobody applies. And one more
10:07piece of that category that people never
10:09ask about because they assume the answer
10:11is obvious and it is not. If somebody is
10:14already in a nursing home paid for by
10:16Medicaid, that is not necessarily
10:18permanent. There is a federal initiative
10:20built specifically to move people out of
10:22facilities and back into the community
10:24with the funding following the person
10:26rather than staying attached to the
10:28building. It pays for the transition
10:30itself, setting up a home, a deposit,
10:33the equipment somebody needs to live
10:34independently again, and the services
10:36once they are back. Which means a family
10:39who was told 2 years ago that a parent
10:41needed a facility and has assumed ever
10:43since that the decision was final may
10:45have a route back that nobody mentioned
10:47because nobody at the facility has any
10:49reason to mention it. Ask about it by
10:51name if that describes your household.
10:54Money following the person out is a very
10:56different conversation from money
10:57following them in. The third one is
10:59prescriptions, and this one is
11:01geographic in a way that is genuinely
11:03unfair. Roughly 20 states run their own
11:05pharmaceutical assistance program. These
11:08sit on top of Medicare drug coverage and
11:10help with premiums, deductibles, or the
11:12cost of the medication itself. Some of
11:14them are substantial. If you live in one
11:16of those states and you are paying out
11:18of pocket for medication, you may be
11:20paying for something your state was
11:21already prepared to cover. And if you
11:23live in a state that does not run one,
11:25you need to know that, too. So, you stop
11:27looking for it and put your attention on
11:29the federal program instead, which
11:31reduces what you pay for drug coverage
11:33and is worth asking about in the same
11:35call. Now, two additional routes on
11:37medication that almost nobody uses, and
11:40both matter if your state has nothing.
11:41Most drug manufacturers run assistance
11:44programs that provide medication at no
11:46cost or heavily reduced cost to people
11:48below certain income levels. They are
11:50longestablished. They are real and they
11:53are underused because you have to find
11:54them and apply usually with your
11:56doctor's office helping. And if you
11:58receive care at a community health
12:00center, ask about their pharmacy
12:01specifically because those centers
12:03frequently access drug pricing
12:05dramatically below retail. The fourth
12:08one is your utility bill. And there are
12:10three completely separate things here
12:11that people collapse into one. And the
12:13second of the three is worth the most.
12:16The first is the program that helps pay
12:18heating and cooling bills directly.
12:20Depending on your state, it commonly
12:21runs somewhere between a few hundred
12:23dollar and 1,500 a year. And many states
12:26also have a crisis component for an
12:28emergency. A furnace failing in February
12:30or a dangerous heat wave. The critical
12:32thing about that one is timing. It is
12:34funded as a block. And in a number of
12:36states, the money for the season
12:37genuinely runs out. Apply early rather
12:40than when the bill arrives. The second
12:42is separate, much larger, and hardly
12:44anybody knows it exists. It does not pay
12:47your bill. It fixes the reason the bill
12:49is high. It sends people to your house
12:51to insulate the attic, seal the places
12:54air is escaping, and repair or replace
12:56an unsafe or failing heating system with
12:59a safety inspection of your appliances.
13:01It is done at no cost to an eligible
13:03household. And the value of the work on
13:05a single home commonly runs into
13:07thousands of dollars. Think about the
13:10difference between those two. One pays
13:12this winter's bill. The other lowers
13:14every winter's bill for as long as you
13:16live in that house. and approval for the
13:18first frequently makes you automatically
13:20eligible for the second, which is that
13:22unlocking pattern you will see again and
13:24again on this list. The third is your
13:26own utility company, and it is the
13:28easiest phone call in this video. Most
13:31gas and electric companies run their own
13:32discounted rate for older or lower
13:34income customers, and they do not
13:36advertise it. One question while you
13:38have them on the phone, do you have a
13:40senior or low-income discount program,
13:42and am I on it? The fifth one is for
13:45renters. And I want to say that clearly
13:47because almost every video about
13:49benefits for older people talks
13:51exclusively to homeowners. Several
13:53states run a rebate for renters.
13:55Pennsylvania has run one for decades.
13:58Others have their own version, sometimes
14:00called a renter credit, sometimes
14:02bundled into a property tax and rent
14:04rebate. The logic behind it is that your
14:06landlord's property tax is built into
14:08your rent, so the state rebates a share
14:10of it back to you directly. It is
14:12usually claimed on a state form once a
14:14year, which means two things. It is
14:16genuinely easy to claim and it is the
14:19single most commonly missed item for
14:21renters because it lives with tax forms
14:24rather than with benefit offices and
14:26nobody connects the two. And there is a
14:28detail about it that cost Ardell 3
14:30years. Those rebates are claimed for a
14:33specific year and the years you never
14:34filed for close on their own schedule
14:37and are finished. Some states allow you
14:39to go back a year or two. most do not.
14:42So the question for your state is not
14:43only whether one exists but whether you
14:46can still claim a prior year and that is
14:48worth asking in the same call. The sixth
14:51is food and I am going to be direct
14:53about why this one goes unclaimed
14:55because it is not eligibility. The share
14:58of eligible older adults who actually
14:59receive food assistance is far lower
15:02than for any other age group in the
15:04country and the reason is that people
15:06who worked their whole lives will not
15:07apply. I am not going to tell anybody
15:09how to feel about that. I will give you
15:11two facts. The first is that for a
15:13household with somebody 60 or older, the
15:15rules are different and considerably
15:17more generous than most people know.
15:19Medical costs above a small monthly
15:21threshold come off your income before
15:23eligibility is calculated, which pulls
15:25in a great many people who assume their
15:27income is too high. That includes your
15:29Medicare premiums, your supplemental
15:31premium, co-ayments, prescriptions,
15:34dental work, and transport to
15:36appointments. And in most states, there
15:38is no asset limit at all for these
15:39households, which removes the other
15:41thing people disqualify themselves over.
15:43The second fact is that a great many
15:45states run a separate seasonal program
15:47issuing coupons for fresh produce at
15:49local farmers markets with a simple
15:52application and a low bar. It is small,
15:55it is genuinely pleasant, and it is
15:57almost entirely unclaimed. And there is
15:59one more thing about that food program
16:01that is worth 30 seconds because it
16:03removes the last objection. A great many
16:06people picture standing at a checkout
16:08with something that marks them out. That
16:10is not how it works anymore and has not
16:12been for years. It arrives as an
16:14ordinary card that works exactly like a
16:17bank card at the till. And nobody in the
16:19queue behind you knows the difference
16:20between yours and theirs. I mention it
16:23because that specific worry, not the
16:25paperwork and not the eligibility, is
16:28what actually stops people in this age
16:30group from applying. The dignity concern
16:32is real and it is also out of date. The
16:35seventh is transportation and this is
16:37the one people are most embarrassed to
16:39ask about. Every area agency on aging in
16:42the country funds transportation and it
16:44is one of the most heavily used services
16:46they have. Rides to medical appointments
16:49to the pharmacy to the grocery store to
16:51dialysis. Some of it is a scheduled van,
16:54some of it is a volunteer driver. Some
16:56of it is a voucher for a taxi or a ride
16:59service. And there is usually no income
17:01test on it at all. The qualification is
17:03age. I am spending time on it because
17:06giving up driving is one of the hardest
17:08things that happens to a person and the
17:10fear underneath it is almost never about
17:11the car. It is about becoming a burden
17:14about having to ask a son or a daughter
17:16for permission to go to every single
17:18errand. A scheduled ride to the doctor
17:20that does not require asking anybody for
17:22a favor is worth considerably more than
17:24its dollar value and it is sitting
17:26unused in most counties in this country.
17:29The eighth is meals and there are two
17:31different programs here that people
17:32constantly confuse. The first is home
17:35delivered meals which most people know
17:36by the name of the best known
17:38organization doing it. That one is for
17:40somebody who has genuine difficulty
17:42leaving home. The second is completely
17:44different and it is served at a senior
17:46center or a community site and in most
17:48places it is not means tested at all.
17:51You turn up, you eat with other people,
17:52there is usually a suggested donation
17:54and nobody is turned away for not making
17:56it. And I am going to say something
17:58about that second one that is not about
18:00money at all. Isolation is not a soft
18:03problem for somebody living alone. A
18:05reason to leave the house at a set time
18:07on a set day where somebody notices if
18:09you do not turn up does more for how the
18:12next 5 years go than most items on this
18:14list. That last part is the one nobody
18:16says out loud. Somebody notices if you
18:18do not turn up. For a person living
18:20alone, that is not a meal program. That
18:23is a safety net with lunch attached. Let
18:25me tell you about a woman I will call
18:27Mavis because she is the reason the
18:28ninth item is on this list at all. 54
18:31and her mother moved in with her after a
18:32fall. Mavis went from full-time to three
18:35days a week and then to two and the
18:37arithmetic of her own retirement quietly
18:39fell apart over about 18 months. Her
18:42mother's income was modestly too high
18:44for Medicaid. So when Mavis asked about
18:46help, she was told her mother did not
18:48qualify. And that was the end of the
18:50conversation as far as she understood
18:52it. There was an entirely separate
18:54federal program available to her the
18:56whole time with no income test on it at
18:58all that funds somebody coming to sit
19:00with her mother so she can leave the
19:02house. She had never heard the name of
19:04it. Everything in this video is written
19:06out in the quiet rules in the order you
19:08would actually use it with the names of
19:10the programs as they are called in
19:12different states. Scan the code on the
19:14screen or go to kevinexplains.shop
19:17or use the link at the top of the pinned
19:19comment. 7 days to look it over and if
19:21it does not earn its place, send it
19:23back.
19:24Mavis was told no about the wrong
19:26program and accepted it as a no about
19:28all of them, which is exactly the
19:30pattern that keeps this money sitting
19:31where it is. So, the ninth item is for
19:33the family member rather than the older
19:35person, and it is the one that catches
19:37households in exactly Mavis's position.
19:40Separate from Medicaid entirely, there
19:42is a federal program called the National
19:44Family Caregiver Support Program. And
19:46the important thing about it is what it
19:48does not have. It does not have
19:50Medicaid's income and asset tests. What
19:53it funds is respit care, meaning
19:55somebody comes and stays with your
19:57parents so you can leave, plus training
19:59and support for the caregiver
20:00themselves. So if you are the daughter
20:02doing everything and your mother's
20:04income is too high for Medicaid, this is
20:06the one that is still open to you.
20:08Almost nobody knows it is a separate
20:10program with separate rules and it is
20:12administered through the same area
20:14agency on aging as everything else on
20:16this list. And there are two more things
20:18in the same family worth naming on the
20:20same call. Adult day services which is a
20:23supervised program during the day at a
20:25center giving a working family member
20:27their working hours back. It is
20:29frequently funded partly through these
20:31same channels. And if your parent is a
20:33veteran, there is a version of the paid
20:35family caregiver arrangement that runs
20:37through the veteran system rather than
20:39Medicaid with its own rules and its own
20:41eligibility.
20:43Different door, same idea, and worth
20:45asking about specifically if service is
20:48anywhere in the household's history.
20:49Now, three things to ask for on that
20:51same call that are not programs at all.
20:54They are people, and every one of them
20:56is free. The first is your state health
20:58insurance assistance program. free
21:00trained one-to-one help with Medicare
21:02from somebody who does not sell
21:04insurance. If you have ever sat in front
21:06of a stack of Medicare post not knowing
21:08which envelope mattered, that is
21:10precisely who this exists for. And the
21:12crucial thing about them is that they
21:14earn nothing based on what you choose.
21:16The second is free legal help. Under the
21:19same federal law that created the area
21:21agencies on aging, every state funds
21:23legal assistance for people 60 and older
21:26specifically for things like benefit
21:27denials, landlord disputes, and consumer
21:30problems. Not a discount, free. And that
21:34one matters enormously given what I am
21:36about to tell you about denials. The
21:38third is the long-term care ombbudsman.
21:40And it applies if anybody in your family
21:42is in a facility of any kind. Every
21:44state has one. They are an independent
21:47advocate whose entire job is to
21:49investigate complaints and resolve
21:50problems on behalf of residents and they
21:53do not work for the facility. Most
21:55families with a parent in a nursing home
21:56have never heard the word. And one more
21:59that is not on the main list because it
22:00is a longer road, but it belongs here.
22:03There is a federal housing program built
22:05specifically for older people with
22:06limited income where rent is set as a
22:09share of your income rather than at
22:11market rate. And the buildings
22:12frequently have a service coordinator on
22:14site who connects residents to
22:16everything else on this list. Waiting
22:17lists for it are long and in some places
22:19they are closed entirely, which is
22:22exactly why it belongs in a video like
22:24this rather than a video you watch when
22:26you need it. Because the only way
22:27anybody ever gets one of those
22:29apartments is being on a list years
22:31early. Now, let me deal honestly with
22:33what these programs are not. Because a
22:35list where everything works is a list
22:38you should not trust. Waiting lists are
22:40real. Home and community based services
22:43in particular can have long ones in some
22:45states. And the honest answer is that
22:47getting on the list early matters more
22:49than anything else about that category.
22:51Income limits are real and several items
22:53here will not apply to you. If you have
22:56a solid pension and real savings, some
22:58of this is not yours and I would rather
23:00you know that in 10 minutes than after
23:0210 phone calls. Rules vary by state more
23:04than in almost any subject I cover. I
23:07have given you the categories that exist
23:08everywhere and the door that leads to
23:10your own state's version because handing
23:12you 50 states of specifics would be
23:14useless to 49 of you. And a first denial
23:18is common. Agencies deny first
23:20applications at a high rate. And most of
23:22the time it is not because somebody did
23:24not qualify. It is a missing document, a
23:26box completed differently than a clerk
23:28expected, or a deadline read off a
23:30different calendar. So here is the
23:32single most useful sentence in this
23:34section. Ask in writing for the denial
23:36to state the specific reason. That one
23:39page tells you exactly what to fix and
23:41it turns a no into a task. And every
23:45program here has a formal appeal path,
23:47usually with a short window of around 30
23:49days from the date of the notice, which
23:51means a denial sitting in a drawer for 6
23:53weeks has quietly become permanent. The
23:56people who end up receiving these
23:57benefits are not luckier and they are
23:59not more deserving. They are the ones
24:01who came back after the first no inside
24:04the window. One more thing before your
24:06call and it is about your own house
24:08rather than your state's list. If you
24:10own your home, there is a separate set
24:11of filings that reduce your property tax
24:14and they run on a completely different
24:15track through your county rather than
24:17through any of this. a homestead
24:19exemption, a senior exemption where in
24:21more than half the states age is the
24:23only qualification, and in some places
24:26an assessment freeze that locks your
24:28taxable value the year you turn 65.
24:31Those are a call to your county
24:32assessor, and the number is printed on
24:35your tax bill. I have covered them
24:37properly in their own video because they
24:39deserve more room than I can give them
24:40here. Now, your call, and this is the
24:43part to write down if you have written
24:44nothing else. 800677116.
24:48The Elder Care Locator. Open with this.
24:51I am in my 60s or 70s. I live in this
24:54county. I live on roughly this much a
24:56month and I own or I rent. I would like
24:58you to screen me for the following. And
25:00I'm going to read you a list. Then read
25:02them these by name. The Senior Community
25:05Service Employment Program or Title 5,
25:07Medicaid Home and Community Based
25:09Services. And specifically whether a
25:11family member can be paid as the
25:12caregiver. my state's pharmaceutical
25:14assistance program and the federal
25:16subsidy through social security, the
25:18heating and cooling assistance program
25:20and separately the weatherization
25:21program. My state's renter rebate or
25:24renter credit if I rent and whether I
25:26can still claim a prior year, food
25:28assistance under the rules for
25:29households with somebody 60 or older,
25:31transportation and homed delivered or
25:34congregate meals. the national family
25:36caregiver support program and whether it
25:38covers respbit and whether there is a
25:40PACE program in this county.
25:43Then the three that are people rather
25:45than programs. My state health insurance
25:48assistance office for Medicare help free
25:50legal assistance for people 60 and older
25:53and the long-term care ombbudsman if
25:55anybody in the family is in a facility.
25:58And one more sentence to add at the end
25:59of that call because it costs nothing
26:01and it is the one that catches whatever
26:03I have left out. Ask them this. Is there
26:06anything else in this county or this
26:08state that somebody in my situation
26:10commonly qualifies for that I have not
26:12asked about? That question exists
26:15because no list, including mine, can
26:17cover 50 states. Some counties run
26:20things that exist nowhere else. A local
26:22property tax deferral, a county
26:24prescription card, a hardware grant for
26:27grab bars and ramps, a discount program
26:29run by the water authority. The person
26:31on the phone knows their own county.
26:34That one open question at the end is how
26:37you get the things I could never have
26:38told you about. And if you have a
26:40question about your own situation after
26:42all this, write to me at
26:44[email protected].
26:47I read everyone that comes in. And when
26:49you are finished, write down the name of
26:50the person you spoke with and the date.
26:53Not because you expect trouble, because
26:55if you ever have to go back, that one
26:57line on a piece of paper is worth more
26:59than an hour of explaining. One call,
27:02nine names, three people, and one line
27:05of writing. My honest read. Everything
27:08in this video has the same shape. And
27:10once you see it, you cannot unsee it.
27:13The money is already appropriated. Your
27:15state already agreed to spend it. The
27:17programs are staffed, the budgets are
27:19set, and the offices are open. And there
27:21is nobody whose job it is to tell you
27:24because the entire system was designed
27:25to respond rather than to reach. which
27:28means it reaches whoever happens to have
27:30somebody in their life who knows the
27:32words. A sister who makes the call, a
27:35neighbor's daughter who works in a
27:37facility and recognizes the situation.
27:39Somebody at a coffee morning. So it
27:41reliably reaches the connected and
27:43reliably misses the isolated. And the
27:45isolated are precisely who it was
27:47written for. That is not a conspiracy
27:49and nobody designed it that way. It is
27:52just where it lands. Last thought.
27:55Ardell sat at a table with an unopened
27:57envelope for two days, three winters in
27:59a row, while money with her name's
28:01eligibility attached to it, sat in an
28:03account in her own state capital. The
28:06only thing that separated her from it
28:07was one phone number and nine words on a
28:10piece of paper. She has them now. So do
28:13you. So make the call this week, read
28:16the list, and write down who you spoke
28:18to. That is the entire assignment, and
28:21it is about 20 minutes of a Tuesday. I
28:23am Kevin. Thanks for watching. Do not
28:25forget to check the quiet rules at
28:27kevinexplains.shop.

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