Can they be subject to becoming homeless and bankrupt after living many years at a CCRC?
By Lillian L. Hyatt, MSW, Resident of a CCRC and AARP Policy Specialist on CCRCs
Are the questions that are raised in my headline possible? Yes.I am a legally blind and disabled resident of a CCRC for the past 17 years. My apartment currently costs me $67,000 per year and will go up every year. Despite my disabilities, I prepare my meals, write my columns and keep my apartment squeaky clean with only 45 minutes of housekeeping help per week.
Because my apartment costs absorb nearly all of my income, I applied to our CCRC executive director for some relief. His suggestion was that I move to a smaller apartment to reduce my financial obligation to the CCRC. Such a move would endanger my health and safety, which did not seem to disturb the management at all.
How can I possibly pay $67,000 per year and meet my other necessary obligations, such as supplemental care and an insurance policy that covers very high hospital costs that are not covered by Medicare?
For example, I was hospitalized in 2013 year and received a bill for $60,000, which my insurance covered completely. My premium per month is $400, and my prescription medication costs $300 per month. I also have dental bills, fees to my accountant for doing my income tax, and fees to my attorney who oversees my health care and protect me from exploitation by the CCRC management. Also, I have personal care needs and must purchase items for daily living that are not supplied by the CCRC.
Peace of Mind
How can a resident have peace of mind when faced with such monetary challenges? How can any CCRC resident have a sense of security under such circumstances?
The entrance fees I paid when I came here 17 years ago disappeared after my first 90 days of residency. I was assured not to worry about running out of money because I would be cared for even if that happened. Unfortunately, the marketing director never told me that under my financial structure, the CCRC would never be responsible for me. The suggestion given was that I should move into a studio and give up an apartment in which I had invested $54,000 in improvements in order to make the rest of my life productive and comfortable.
I rejected the suggestion since in order to write my columns, I require a study to house equipment for the blind, which I need to continue to write my columns. The facility would benefit greatly by selling my apartment to a couple, as they would then receive two entrance fees, plus two monthly care fees, instead of my one monthly care fee—even though it is very high.
I consider that the pressures put upon me constitute as mental abuse. Subsequently, I discovered that the facility hired a social worker and I insisted upon getting an up an appointment. I explained that this situation was extremely stressful and asked for a remedy. She had no office to discuss the matter privately and, in addition, she contacted the executive director to discuss the matter. Whatever happened to confidentiality?
Some of the facts I reveal in this column about my own personal experience as a CCRC resident may prove useful to anyone thinking about moving into a CCRC. When I entered my CCRC 17 years ago, a candidate for residency had to be reasonably healthy and under the age of 84. Today, anyone can enter the facility if they have the money to satisfy the management, and can be admitted even if they are seriously ill. They can also be any age at all—even 100 years old or more. This leaves an older and sicker population in the facility leaving people, who came in earlier, to subsidize this population.
Access to Services
I had to fight to stay in my own apartment in order to get my services to puree my food and receive it in my apartment, and to resist my being moved to the skilled nursing facility because I needed pureed food.
My self-determination was also put at risk because the management was determined to silence me and prevent me from writing columns critical of the CCRC industry.
Professor Hyatt is an AARP California policy advisor. Professor Hyatt can be seen on YouTube on the USC School of Social Work website at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMrC6o6Rm04
