Last month, Right at Home joined an eclectic group of companies lobbying Congress to fund home modifications that will allow seniors to age in place. Kerin Zuger, chief of strategic growth at the Omaha-based firm, is leading Right at Home’s involvement in the HomesRenewed Coalition.
The coalition — which includes Lowe’s, Lifeway Mobility, TruBlue Total House care and a number of other companies — is drawing up legislation that would allow consumers to use pre-tax retirement accounts and tax deductions to pay for home modifications. The goal is to help seniors live safely at home in their retirement years.
McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse sat down with Zuger to talk about why the coalition’s efforts are so important for the home care industry.
McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse: What are your caregivers encountering when they go into the homes of some seniors?
Kerin Zuger: The major concerns that we see are safety issues. They don’t have grab bars. The main areas of concern are in the restrooms where they don’t have wide enough doorways to get in if they have walkers or wheelchairs. Sometimes they can’t get into showers. Even a small lip on the shower can be a fall hazard. If you don’t have a caregiver in there 24 hours a day, you have to have these modifications.
McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse: How costly are these modifications?
Kerin Zuger: They can be very costly. It depends on the level of support you need. If you can’t move out of our home and you have stairs, installing a lift can be thousands of dollars. Ramps into the home aren’t cheap either. Unfortunately, there are folks who need these more costly modifications and can’t afford it.
McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse: We are seeing more Medicare Advantage plans offering home modifications as a supplemental benefit. Do those benefits fall short?
Kerin Zuger: I love what Medicare Advantage plans do — the benefits they provide to members, relative to choice–but you have to remember on the other side there is always the squeeze for the dollar. They have capitation rates where there is a limit on the amount of dollars to service a member. That means you are going to get every dollar you can out of a Medicare Advantage plan. We appreciate any help, but it’s a drop in the bucket relative to the broader needs of this population.
McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse: We know that the nation’s housing stock is aging along with the population. Are there going to be seniors who simply won’t be able to remain in their homes?
Kerin Zuger: Some definitely won’t. The reality is they are either going to have to voluntarily move because they recognize that it’s a safety hazard or they are going to be forced to move. They could fall and break a hip and have to move to a higher level of care. When you are talking about the overall cost of healthcare, you have to mitigate risks to lower those costs. [Home modifications] are a great way to do it.
