Before you move into an assisted living facility, you need to make sure that you fully understand how assisted living facilities work and what type of services you can expect to get from an assisted living facility. Fully understanding what an assisted living facility offers you will help you decide if an assisted living facility is the right choice for you.

Thing #1: Base Rent Impacted by Inflation

At an assisted living facility, you will be charged a base rent for your accommodations. That base rent is not locked-in at the price it starts at. Your base rent can increase each year, based on inflation. You need to plan for your rent to increase over the years if you move into an assisted living facility.

Thing #2: Services A La Carta

In addition to your accommodation, an assisted living facility can also provide you with extra services, such as transportation, medical management, and meal delivery.

These are considered a la carte services, and these services can be added on as you need them. You don't have to pay for services you don't need, and you can adjust the a la carte services you need as your health and personal needs change over time.

Thing #3: Medicaid Can Be Used for Payment

Some assisted living communities accept individuals who pay via Medicaid. If a facility accepts Medicaid payments, they can't refuse someone if they have beds available that fall within their required allocated Medicaid beds.

Not all assisted living communities are approved Medicaid facilities, so if you plan on using Medicaid to pay for your assisted living, you need to make sure you research and find communities that accept Medicaid payments. Be prepared to have to wait for a few months for a slot to become available.

Thing #4: You Can Be Asked to Leave

Finally, it is important to understand that you can be asked to leave an assisted living facility. This generally doesn't happen unless your medical needs are so great that they can longer be taken care of by the assisted living facility.

Assisted living communities will have the staff to take care of people, and may have a registered nurse on staff, but they are not going to have doctors on call. If your medical conditions become really advanced, they may ask you to leave and go somewhere that is more able to handle your care.

This is not just done without carefully consulting, and when done, provides you with time to find a skilled nursing facility to help you. It is a good idea to have a skilled nursing facility that you want to go to if necessary.

An assisted living facility can provide you with an apartment or home to rent and provide you with extra services that take care of things you need help with, such as transportation and medication management. An assisted living facility can allow you to live more independently and can be paid for with Medicaid. It is important to have a nursing home in mind if your health ever declines and the assisted living facility is no longer to provide you with the care you need.

For more information, reach out to a local assisted living facility.