Assistance with elderly parents?
Hoping someone has some info that may help or may be able to put me in touch with someone who may know better, as I’ve tried looking into it but I’m honestly really burnt out. My parents had me when they were older, so they’re currently 63 and 70 and I’m an only child who’s 26. My mom has been physically handicapped for the past few years (wheelchair bound, needs assistance with ADLs such as brief changes and transferring in and out of wheelchair but has no real medical needs necessarily). Dad is doing decent enough physically, but his memory is going and he gets confused much more easily. For the most part he’s relatively independent, at least to the extent I don’t have to worry about him day to day. He’s unable to assist in caring for my mom though so I’ve been doing it for about a year and a half now. Both my parents are unemployed, on social security/medicare (mom through disability), and they own our home outright. They have very little in savings, <$40,000, and I’m not sure how much the house is worth but it’s probably $250,000-$500,000 (probably on the lower end). I bring this up because I tried to get mom signed up for Medicaid when I was doing her Medicare but she was denied due to the house being an asset and putting her over whatever threshold she needs to qualify. I can’t really leave the house for extended periods of time (>12 hours) due to mom’s needs.
I’ve been tentatively planning on moving in with my girlfriend some time next year, and I’ve discussed plans with my mom and she’s very ready to go into some sort of assisted living facility (she’s done some time in rehab facilities/SNFs from when she initially got hurt and became disabled). The planning is too complicated, though, so I have to handle that. I’m so burnt out and there are so many options I really don’t know what to do though; what I’m guessing is they’ll need to sell the house so that mom can use her half to pay for wherever she’s living, then she can qualify for Medicaid and that will pay for it, but I can’t really tell if assisted living places tend to take Medicaid for room and board. I don’t think she’d qualify for a snf because again, medically she’s not actually in that bad of shape. I’ve also been able to keep her from getting any pressure injuries but I’d be concerned about her developing any so if possible I’m hoping she can live somewhere that has a good reputation in that aspect. Another problem is going to be with my dad, as I’m expecting tension and potential arguments about this as “he’s fine and wants to stay in the house” (the dynamic here kinda sucks, if that wasn’t clear).
I’m honestly just really tired and don’t really know where to start and am thus inclined to just keep sucking it up and continuing with business as usual but business as usual is also becoming incredibly tiring and I’ll probably have to figure this out in a few months now anyway. If there’s any info I can expound on, please ask, but I’ve been putting off even making this post because I’m tired. I’m sorry if this came off a little rambly. I appreciate any advice or assistance anyone might be able to give, thank you in advance.
Posted Sep 29, 2026, 2:35 AM UTC