Hi Shirlene,

What a wonderful gift of a sister. You are correct in that Medicare does not pay for personal home care. However You may be able to get paid for providing assistance via a program typically known as Community Care for the Aged and Disabled. These programs are run by each state and will usually fall under Dept. Of Human Services or whatever that department is called in your state. This was developed to keep people at home independently instead of needing nursing home care. Determination of hours needed for care is made by a case worker who comes to the house and does an assessment of functional limitations. In Texas, not the most liberal state keep in mind, a family member may provide service instead of an outside worker. You should be able to refer your sister to this program yourself but if she has home health coming a social worker with that agency could make the referral. I have known many families who benefited from this service. Care can range from 8-39 hours depending on the assesment. I hope this helps. I am sending Healing Love to your family.

Littlepaw