re: Just how bad are nursing homes in Louisiana?

Most are bad but there are a very few that are good

Nursing home lobbyists annually defeat any attempts at reform. The biggest issue is that nursing homes control Medicare money & every year reformers try to change this, claiming most patients would prefer to stay home. But by controlling the Federal money, patients are forced to stay in nursing homes. JBE's 2 biggest lobbyists are the trial lawyers & nursing home lobbyists, 1A & 1B. There are very few licenses granted, by the State, i.e. politicians. It's a big political rip off.

My family has instructions to allow me to go off in the woods somewhere to be eaten by bears before I am relegated to a nursing home.

I imagine the people that work at these places look at your old parents or grandparents and think they were slave owners...

It is sad but many families have few options. If all the children work and the parent requires round the clock care a nursing home may be the only affordable option. The whole industry needs to be revamped.

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Richest country in the history of human existence and our elderly are left to rot in conditions that wouldn’t be allowed for zoo animals

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Because inflation has made it impossible to hire decent people in low level occupations.

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The biggest issue is that nursing homes control Medicare money

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It's actually Medicaid (low-income)money, my good man, since Medicare will only cover the first 20 days of a skilled nursing facility, but only after a 2-day hospital stay. If they have a supplement plan it will cover the next 80 days. After 100 days, unless you have a long-term-care policy, they will start depleting any liquid assets that you have until they are all exhausted. They can even go back as much as 5 years to see if the patient tried to move their money to relatives, etc. and reclaim it!! Once all available monies have been exhausted, they will move the patient onto Medicaid which will then pay for the care until the patient's passing if nothing changes. Depending on the patient's situation, I've even heard that they can come after houses/properties, etc. of the deceased to try to repay the expenses incurred by Medicaid, so it's wise to move all available assets into trusted family members' names prior to the 5-year lookback period.

True. The difficulty is getting people to move assets while they are healthy. And as to quality of nursing homes I find that locally owned and managed do better than those owned by someone who owns many homes and has little direct hands on management

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so it's wise to move all available assets into trusted family members' names prior to the 5-year lookback period.

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There are drawbacks to this, too. What if they're not as honest as you think they are. What if they run over somebody, get sued and lose the assets you're shielding.

There are also things you can do to minimize the bite short of transferring all your assets. The scope is beyond this thread, but consulting an attorney or financial advisor with expertise in this area is well worthwhile.