Going up 4% per year.
My Way News - Elder care costs keep climbing; nursing home bill now $91K
Less expensive at home? Maybe not. Home healthcare rates here average $18/hour, which, for 24hr. care, works out to$157K/yr... and that does not include specialty care, food, special services and the medical expertise available in a nursing home.
As we live in a regular home in a full service CCRC, we get a chance to see the realities of aging in terms of how long patients spend in nursing home care. While the average time spent in a nursing home before death is said to be about 5 months, our experience tells us that many who suffer from dementia, live much longer. This is more clearly seen in communities like ours, where there is a separate facility for Alzheimer/dementia patients.
My Way News - Elder care costs keep climbing; nursing home bill now $91K
For its report, Genworth surveyed 15,000 nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other providers across the country in January and February. It found wide differences from state to state. In Oklahoma, for instance, the median cost for a year in a nursing home came out to $60,225. In Connecticut, it was $158,775. Alaska had the highest costs by far, with one year at $281,415.
So, who pays the nursing-home bill? "A lot of people believe Medicare will step in and cover them, but that's just not true," said Bruce Chernoff, president and CEO of The Scan Foundation, a charitable organization. Medicare will cover some short visits for recovery after a surgery, for instance, but not long-term stays.
Often enough, experts say senior citizens wind up spending their savings until they hit their last $2,000, and at that point they can turn to Medicaid, the government's health insurance for the poor, to help cover the bill. As a result, Medicaid pays for more than half of the country's long-term care bill. That cost accounts for more than a quarter of Medicaid spending, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Less expensive at home? Maybe not. Home healthcare rates here average $18/hour, which, for 24hr. care, works out to$157K/yr... and that does not include specialty care, food, special services and the medical expertise available in a nursing home.
As we live in a regular home in a full service CCRC, we get a chance to see the realities of aging in terms of how long patients spend in nursing home care. While the average time spent in a nursing home before death is said to be about 5 months, our experience tells us that many who suffer from dementia, live much longer. This is more clearly seen in communities like ours, where there is a separate facility for Alzheimer/dementia patients.
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