What is the responsibility of the family for nursing home expenses?
A. Federal law prohibits a nursing home from requiring a third party to guarantee payment as a condition of a resident’s admission to the nursing home. However, many nursing homes throughout the country continue to obtain third-party guaranties by either ignoring or evading federal law. Because admission to a nursing home is such a traumatic event, family members and friends often feel guilty about their own inability to keep their loved one at home. They often do not have adequate time to give as much thought as they should about nursing home issues or to make advance plans about nursing home admission. Because of the influence that a nursing home has over an entering resident and his or her family, it is less likely that the resident or the resident’s family and friends will make many demands upon a particular facility. Consequently, people often sign documents that they really do not need to sign or that are legally improper. The 1987 Nursing Home Reform Act states explicitly that a
