Help Laura Mason Get the Care She Deserves

Growing Old: The American Dream or the American Nightmare

Healthcare and Medical Expenses: How the Necessity of Long-term Care ROBS the Elderly of Their Hard Earned Assets #ElderlyLivesMatter #SaveLauraMason

The Patient in Need...

My name is La Tasha Mason. I am a caregiver and Power of Attorney for my elderly Mother, Laura Mason, who suffered a medical emergency just a couple of hours after the New Year rang in on January 1, 2024. I had to make so many life-or-death decisions in such a short amount of time. The first decision was to transfer her from our local hospital and get her to Cleveland Clinic, ranked the number 2 best hospital in the world. Cleveland Clinic came and transported my Mom the same day and admitted her into their Neurology ICU department.

My Mother is cherished by many people in our community as was my Father. My Father was a Pastor and all-around good person and although he passed away in September of 2020, I still receive messages from people telling me how he positively impacted their lives and how much he is truly missed. My Mom has that same type of giving spirit. I can’t tell you how many families my Mother welcomed to live with us when I was a child. She has always been a helper and a nurturing person. Not only did she raise her own five children, she raised and/or took care of at least five other children. I remember times she would be away from home for weeks. She would be staying at a friend or family member’s house to care for them after surgery or during the end stages of their lives. She and my Father were so selfless and constantly giving to anyone in need. Some I knew about. Others, I didn’t. I know there are well over a dozen people whose funerals they paid for throughout the years.

During the holidays, my Mother prepared huge feasts and everyone stopped by their house to get a plate, relax, and enjoy good company. They LOVED my Mom’s cooking. They would beg her to make her cornbread dressing, macaroni and cheese, potato salad, pound cakes, and more. She never disappointed them.

And now, the person who was always there for others, always putting others’ needs before her own, always paying others’ bills and getting them out of binds and helping whoever she could, needs help because although she has health insurance, it sadly only covers a short stay in a skilled nursing facility.

The Support Needed…

I have to raise a minimum of $25,000 to cover the back pay for the nursing facilities to cover the portion we had hoped Medicaid would cover. I already paid the facility the required portion when there was a pending Medicaid application; however, Medicaid was denied. We have to reapply. Because of that denial, we need another $25,000 to $35,000 to pay the nursing home fee for the next couple of months as well as cover other medical and insurance premium expenses. Additionally, some accommodations need to be made to her house so that she can return home. She will need a hospital bed with an air mattress. She will need her bathroom remodeled to accommodate her current physical needs. She will need a wheelchair ramp and more.

The total amount we are seeking to raise is $60,000.

The Medical Emergency...

The diagnosis was a bleeding stroke. There were differing opinions, and I was given some of them prematurely, but I always knew Who the ultimate Doctor was and Who had the last say. It was the last prognosis given to me by a neurology nurse practitioner who kept reiterating that because the angiogram of Mom’s brain didn’t show any additional damage or bleeding from what they saw when she was first admitted, Mom should at least have the capabilities and functionalities she had when she got there. He said she was alert and talking with some confusion, she was able to move her limbs with some weakness on her right side.

Although Mom arrived there awake and alert, she suffered a seizure which is common with stroke patients. The doctor said it was necessary to intubate her and put her on a ventilator to protect her lungs and give her brain a rest, so she could heal. They didn’t know why she wasn’t waking up after they decreased her medication and said that she suffered significant trauma for someone her age, so she possibly needed more time to heal. I had to decide whether or not to pull the plug on my Mother or allow them to do a tracheostomy and insert a feeding tube to give her some time to heal and wake up.

My Mom remained in a coma for several months even though she was weaned off of the ventilator and only on oxygen by the end of February. By May, she regained consciousness and was talking to us with some confusion as Cleveland Clinic said would be the case. My Mom kept tugging at her trach and although I asked the nursing facility to remove it. They felt she still needed it. My Mom became strong enough to pull the trach out herself. After the third time she pulled it out, they left it out. She has been breathing on her own since then.

My Mom has come a long way but still needs skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. She desperately needs these things because they haven’t been treating her. I kept asking why these things weren’t being done immediately after she became conscious and was speaking. I was given so many excuses and finally, it was blamed on INSURANCE. I had her moved to another nursing facility that promised me that things would be different, but she still isn't receiving the therapy she needs for her to return home. It’s all about MONEY and INSURANCE.

The ISSUE…

It’s the American dream to get a good education, land the perfect job, get married, buy a home and cars, have children, be able to pay for medical and life insurance, put money into a pension, and save for retirement, and then you RETIRE, right? Yet, when you do all of these things as a responsible citizen of the United States, it becomes a nightmare fast if you have a medical emergency, dare to survive, and need skilled nursing care. The health insurance you have paid for for years will only pay for a short time for your stay in a nursing facility. If it is medically necessary for you to stay in the facility and you can’t afford to personally pay $10,000 or more per month, this forces you to apply for Medicaid. Medicaid will strip you of your assets before becoming eligible for their assistance.

To make matters worse, if you don’t legally move around assets per Medicaid’s guidelines quickly enough, they will deny your claim. The denial will result in you owing back pay to the nursing home unless you can win an appeal. This is what happened to my mother. They have the verification that life insurance policies were submitted for change in ownership and that I prepaid for a funeral. I provided them with a receipt from the funeral home and everything. However, the life insurance companies have not yet solidified the changes. Because the assets are technically still in my mother’s name, she is NOT deemed eligible for Medicaid. Until everything is OFFICIALLY out of her name, she will continue to be ineligible for Medicaid.

Because she was determined ineligible, my mother owes the nursing home back money and must pay the private pay rate of $360 per day to remain in the nursing facility and receive the proper care that she desperately needs. And since the nursing facility was paid her total net income each month, her savings accounts have been drained to cover expenses that Jobs and Family Services cares nothing about. They don’t care that you have responsibilities outside of your nursing home stay. They completely disregard the fact that you still need to pay life insurance, health insurance, home insurance, and car insurance premiums as well as other important bills while you are in the nursing facility.

The Miracle...

My Mom has come a long way. She went from depending on a ventilator to breathing with the assistance of the trach and oxygen to breathing on her own without the trach or oxygen. People doubted she would ever wake up, see, hear, talk, or move again. She's doing it all. God showed them all. He has the FINAL say.

At age 79, she is still a fighter. She is God's miracle. I will continue to obey Him and get her the proper physical, occupational, and speech therapy she needs to take her to that next level of healing. So, I humbly ask you for your help in doing that. Whatever you can donate is a blessing. No amount is too small. Every dollar counts. God bless you.