Bridging the Gap in Senior Care: Our Mission, Our Work, Our Why

Almost a year ago January 2024 — Lisa and I decided to purchase an Oasis Senior Advisors franchise for the Salt Lake City area. This represented a huge departure from our previous careers. Lisa had spent more than 20 years working for the Air Force — through deployments and reserve duty — managing IT systems, servers, and infrastructure. My background was in automation engineering. For years we dreamed of owning and running our own business but didn’t know exactly what that would be. After looking for more than a year, we ultimately chose Oasis Senior Advisors.

For those unfamiliar, Oasis Senior Advisors are Certified Senior Advisors (CSA®) who help seniors and their families — at no cost — navigate the many complex decisions that arise when home is no longer safe and a move to assisted living becomes necessary. We meet with seniors, listen to their needs, understand their finances, and connect them with appropriate professionals so they can make informed decisions and move into assisted living with less anxiety and fewer unknowns.

From our work, we learned that most Utah seniors are relatively financially secure. Roughly 70% have some form of retirement savings beyond Social Security, and a small percentage have enough wealth that they will likely never need Medicaid. But for all the others — those whose monthly retirement income falls short of assisted living costs — Medicaid becomes a necessity. A financial professional and plan must be in place, because qualifying for Medicaid requires individuals to spend down nearly all assets before receiving assistance. (For more information, consult a financial professional about trusts and other planning tools.)

For seniors who have enough saved to pay for 12 months of assisted living, they can typically qualify for the New Choices Waiver (NCW) once the year is completed. NCW helps pay for housing and care for the remainder of their life and is accepted by most assisted living communities in Utah.

However, our work with financially comfortable seniors illuminated a troubling reality: there is a massive GAP for low-income seniors. Approximately 30% of our clients cannot afford to move out of unsafe or unstable situations because assisted living costs far exceed their monthly income. Seeing this disparity forced us to confront a question: What happens to the seniors who can’t afford to wait out the 12-month requirement — even though they would otherwise qualify for NCW?

Low-income seniors are just as eligible for the NCW program. Their only barrier is income. Seniors with modest retirement savings can pay the 12-month period required for NCW entry; low-income seniors cannot. Their only options become relying on family to cover the cost, staying in unsafe environments, or entering Skilled Nursing — which is often inappropriate for their needs. For seniors who aren’t seriously ill, being “too healthy” works against them: they are frequently discharged before reaching the 90-day Skilled Nursing requirement, only to return home, get injured, and be readmitted. This cycle repeats until their health deteriorates.

Lisa and I know there is a better way.

Today, we propose bridging the GAP for low-income seniors who would qualify for the NCW program if not for the financial barrier. By covering a short-term gap in affordability, we can restore the dignity of choice — allowing seniors and their families to select a safe and appropriate assisted living community, rather than being forced into unsafe conditions or overburdened hospitals.

We are calling on the good people of Utah — those who have more than they need — to help lift up this overlooked population of seniors. By filling the coffers of this organization, you enable us to fund that critical bridge period until NCW approval (typically 12–16 months). Once approved, Golden Gap Foundation steps back and Medicaid steps in — ensuring long-term stability, continuity of care, and a dignified quality of life.

Together, we can close this GAP and transform the lives of low-income seniors across Utah.