Continuing the long running log of the personal Collapse of my meat package, yesterday I received my Approval of my application for Medicaid assistance from the state of Alaska, which serves as my secondary Insurance to federal Medicare and together fully cover about all my major med expenses like the quite expensive operations and extended hospital stays I have had for the last 8 years or so, since my work accident took me out of the working world in 2015.  It's also the coverage that pays the exorbitant monthly charges racked up if you reside in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF,pronounced "sniff") or Assisted Care Living (ACL)gulag (pronounced "ackle").

Price for my current monthly SNF abode is 16K, of which up to now 15K of which has been paid by Medicare & Medicade combined, splitting the cost for $7500 each.  Now however they no longer consider me disabled enough to require a SNF, and I am switched to the Medicaid Waver program. In this program, they determine your Monthly contribution to your care by subtracting $200 from whatever your total monthly SS and Pension is and that is what you pay for your living situation, and Medicaid pays the rest.  So from now until I find a new abode, I am left with just $200/mo spending money.

Now, the ACL cost around here runs cheaper than SNFs, between around $6000/mo for the cheapest dumps to $8500 for the ritzier ones.  The thing is, there is no benefit to me to leave here where it costs $16K even to go to the cheapest ACK, because I still would be left with just $200/mo.  So, I won't leave here to go to another ACL gulag, and they can't kick me out until I have alternative housing and a daily health care assistant lined up.

So I am now hunting for a house or apartment in Anchorage I can afford, which for me is around $1200/mo or less.  I could go more if utilities are included.  Currently the apt rental market is pretty tight for 1 bedrooms, but what I am now looking for is a 3-4 bedroom house to share with a CNA here I am friends with.  She has 2 kids and a boyfriend, currently wedged into a 2 bedroom apt.  Together, we can afford the market rate for McMansions, going for 2-3K/month.  The tough part here is finding a place which is wheelchair accessible, or can be made so without too much cost.

I also applied for Cook Inlet Housing, which is a Native run corporation but the housing is open to anyone 62 and older and/or disabled, aka me.  Rent is on a sliding scale dependent on your income, I should come in around $1000/mo.  Problem here is a long wait list estimated at 6-18 months.  I have been on it for 3 so far.

The good newz here is I am pretty safe from becoming a HHS anytime soon; bad newz is that until I do find new digs I have only $200/mo spending money, which is impossibly low for me.  So I'll be eating into my savings until I find a place.  I do expect pressure from Medicaid at some point to move out of here to a cheaper ACL until I find an independent living situation, I don't think they want to keep coughing up the 13K or so difference to keep me lodged here now that Medicare will not pick up half the bill.  I'll report if I start getting any pressure of that sort as time goes by here.

RE