Paying for assisted living in Texas
Daraan is private pay, which rarely means paying entirely out of pocket. Most families combine two or three sources. Here is an honest walk through them, including the ones that will not help.
Where the money usually comes from
Almost nobody uses just one of these. The common pattern is a parent's income as the base, topped up from one or two of the others.
- Income and savings
- The most straightforward route: Social Security and pension income as the base, topped up from savings, retirement accounts or investments. Worth working out the monthly shortfall first, because that number determines which of the rest you actually need.
- Long-term care insurance
- If a policy was bought years ago it may cover a substantial share. Most policies pay once a doctor certifies the person cannot perform a set number of daily activities without help, or has severe cognitive impairment, and most have an elimination period of 30 to 100 days before benefits start. Dig the policy out and read the assisted living section; families are regularly surprised. We will provide whatever documentation the insurer asks for.
- VA Aid and Attendance
- A monthly amount paid on top of a VA pension for wartime veterans and surviving spouses who need help with daily activities. It is the most under-claimed benefit in senior care. More on it below.
- The house
- Usually the largest asset available. Some families sell; others rent it out and put the rental income toward the monthly cost, keeping the asset. Which is better depends on tax position and timeline, so ask a financial adviser or an elder law attorney before deciding.
- Life insurance
- Some permanent policies can be converted into a long-term care benefit or sold through a life settlement. Worth asking about if a policy exists and the premiums are getting hard to carry.
- Splitting it between siblings
- Very common, and worth doing formally. Agreed shares, written down, prevents most of the resentment that otherwise builds over years. A single page is enough. Whoever lives nearest is usually already contributing time that the others are not, and it is easier to say so at the start than three years in.
VA Aid and Attendance, in plain terms
If a parent served during a wartime period, or is the surviving spouse of someone who did, this is worth an hour of your time even if you are fairly sure they will not qualify.
Current benefit amounts change every year, so rather than print a figure that goes stale, here is the official source: the VA's own Aid and Attendance page.
- File early
- Applications commonly take months to decide. Benefits generally run from the date the VA receives the claim, not the date it is approved, so filing sooner protects more of the back period.
- It is means-tested
- Both income and net worth are assessed, and since October 2018 the VA looks back three years at asset transfers. Moving money around shortly before applying can create a penalty period rather than avoid one.
- Do not pay to apply
- Help preparing and filing an initial claim is available free from VA-accredited representatives and from Veterans Service Organisations, and federal rules restrict charging a fee for that initial filing. If a company wants thousands of dollars to submit the paperwork, that is a reason to walk away and call an accredited representative instead.
- What we do
- We provide the cost and level-of-care documentation the VA asks for. We do not prepare claims, and we do not take a referral fee from anyone who does.
If the money starts running out
Tell us early rather than late. This is the conversation families most dread starting, and the one where timing changes the outcome most.
With months of runway there is time to file for benefits, sell or let a property, restructure how siblings are contributing, or plan a move somewhere more affordable properly. With three weeks there is not. We would far rather know in advance and help you plan than hand anyone a notice in a crisis.
Nobody benefits from a move made in a hurry.
Medicare, Medicaid and tax
The three things families are most often wrong about, answered plainly.
No. This is the single most common misunderstanding in senior care. Medicare covers short-term skilled nursing or rehabilitation after a qualifying hospital stay, plus medical services like doctor visits and home health. It does not pay for room, board or ongoing personal care in assisted living, here or anywhere else. Any place that implies otherwise is worth being careful with.
No. Daraan is private pay. Texas does run a programme that can help with assisted living services, the STAR+PLUS Home and Community Based Services waiver, but interest lists are long and not every facility participates. We do not. If Medicaid is your only realistic route, call us anyway: we would rather spend five minutes pointing you toward providers who do participate than have you spend three weeks touring places that cannot help.
Often, yes. Where a resident is certified as chronically ill and living under a prescribed plan of care, a significant share of the cost may qualify as a deductible medical expense, and an adult child providing more than half of a parent's support may be able to claim some of it. This turns entirely on your circumstances, so take it to a tax professional. We provide an itemised annual statement of everything you paid.
Yes, on the phone, in about ten minutes. Every rate is already published on the pricing page, so there is nothing to reveal. What we can add is which level applies to your situation and therefore what the real monthly number would be, which is usually the first thing a family needs before they can plan anything at all.
None of this is financial, tax or legal advice. It is a summary of what families commonly use, written so you know what to go and ask about. For your own situation, speak to a financial adviser, a tax professional, an elder law attorney, or a VA-accredited representative.
Want help thinking it through?
Call and describe the situation. We will tell you what the all-in monthly number would be for your circumstances, which is usually what a family needs before they can plan at all.
Tours available daily, 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM · Book at least one day ahead