Elderly couple forced apart because of Medicaid limits
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — After 63 years of marriage, Paul and Wilma Clauss are now living apart — and not by choice.
It wasn't the dementia, which caused Paul Clauss' health to deteriorate to the point of requiring constant care. No, it was the limited number of beds for Medicaid patients, their daughter Cyndy Clauss said.
Cyndy Clauss said the heartbreaking situation unfolded recently, when the family filled out Medicaid paperwork to provide their father the medical assistance and financial support he needs. At the time of application, they believed a bed allotted for Medicaid patients would be available at the facility where the couple lived.
They soon realized, however, that wasn't the case.
"Due to a restriction of beds, Dad had to be moved, which was heartbreaking," Cyndy Clauss said. "Facilities only have a certain number of beds for residents with Medicaid, and there is no way of getting around that."
According to Indiana State Department of Health records, Tippecanoe County includes 11 nursing homes, which provide 1,246 beds for Medicaid/Medicare patients. As of July, those homes had a 71% occupancy rate. Since Clauss would not disclose the names of the facilities her mother and father live in, the occupancy rates of the homes could not be verified.
Clauss said her father is on a waiting list to return to her mother's facility, but they don't know how long that could take.
Marni Lemons, deputy press director for the Family and Social Services Administration, said no one made the agency aware of the situation until now, but that the office would do everything it could to reunite the pair.
"Our department of aging is working to receive more information so we may follow up in the next couple of days," said Lemons.
Until the situation is resolved, Clauss said, the facility will continue to transport her mother to see her father once a week. The pair are in their late 80s, according to WLFI-TV.
"My dad suffers from something called 'sundowning' due to his state of dementia," Clauss said. "When it gets dark out, he has extreme anxiety, fear and confusion, which was something my mother could ease him out of. She is the only one he recognizes."
Clauss knows the nursing facilities are sympathetic, and she is understanding of them as well.
"They are trying their hardest to do the best for as many people as they can," she said. "Sometimes being Solomon is really hard and there is no solution that is best for everyone."
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