13 Years in Long Term Care by AALTCI

[Rianne]

Reading this makes me want to live in Italy. The politics are horrible but the elderly are well cared for. I know this from first hand experience as my DSI has lived there for over 30 years. The elderly, and I mean in their 90"s, live peacefully at home with full time in home care. The nursing home facilities are quite lovely and it seems the majority of people take caring for the elderly seriously. We Skype with DSI weekly and she's always sharing stories about the elderly neighbors and relatives. I only say this from personal experience. The cost of this care is very low as many live on small pensions.

 

[LARS]

Reading this makes me want to live in Italy. The politics are horrible but the elderly are well cared for. I know this from first hand experience as my DSI has lived there for over 30 years. The elderly, and I mean in their 90"s, live peacefully at home with full time in home care. The nursing home facilities are quite lovely and it seems the majority of people take caring for the elderly seriously. We Skype with DSI weekly and she's always sharing stories about the elderly neighbors and relatives. I only say this from personal experience. The cost of this care is very low as many live on small pensions.

Very interesting. Now if technology would speed up instantaneous translation capabilities, and I could convince the DW to leave America, Italy sounds like a wonderful option.

 

[Walt34]

My fathers bill at a nursing home in Connecticut for January 2016 was $13,020.
That's room, board and basic care. No extras. Payable monthly, in advance.

I don't doubt that a bit. When DW's father was in full nursing care she was writing checks (as POA) for between $9,000 and $14,000 per month. He passed away in 2014. He was just a few months away from exhausting all financial resources and going on Medicaid.

 

[jimandthom]

We were fortunate that MIL LTC also paid while in the assisted level, rather than having to be in the full nursing level. The assisted level was a dementia care level, so probably somewhat elevated from what might normally be called assisted living.


We checked the facility out, at the suggestion of a co-worked. He did not try to sell it or bash it. Left it up to us to get the feel for it. Turns out it has consistently year after year been top 3 in Ohio--- without breaking the bank. It was roughly 4300 per month with only a couple of add-ons that were just a few $$ each month, in a large 2 person room, with full bath and this was a dementia lock'em in so they don't wander etc level. After a break in a hip etc, she went to full on dementia nursing care.


Co workers mom had been there about 10 years already, State of Ohio had been paying for the past 4-5 years. Once you were there, you were not kicked out due to finances. The only change was if on Medicaid, you were in a 2 person room in the appropriate level.


Absolutely totally worth every dollar that was spent and the home deserved its level of commendation.

 

[joeea]

Two years ago when DH was in his last days I used a private firm when I needed to be out of the house for an extended period. They charged $22/hour and this is a LCOL area. They were very good- would do light housework, laundry, fix meals, etc.

I was going to say that this seems very inexpensive.

Maybe others know of less expensive in-home solutions?

 

[athena53]

I was going to say that this seems very inexpensive.

Maybe others know of less expensive in-home solutions?

Maybe because they weren't nurses. They'd hand out prescriptions, and had some sort of certification to do that, but that was the extent of what they'd do medically.

 

[pb4uski]

Most of the time you don't need a nurse.... CNAs and home help aides do a lot of the grunt work and they are less than 1/2 the cost of a nurse.

 

[Scuba]

I recently read an article about an Australian man in his 90’s who went to Switzerland to die with dignity. I think one has to have a terminal diagnosis to do this. Unfortunately even though CA finally passed a death with dignity law, a person has to be able to self-administer a number of pills over a prolonged period of time as well as having a terminal diagnosis. This could be hard to do for someone with ALS, paralysis, etc.

Someday I hope ending one’s own life can happen as humanely as we treat our pets when their quality of life has deteriorated too much.

 

[joeea]

Not sure I would want to spend 9+ years in LTC

Do you have an alternate plan?

 

[bclover]

I was going to say that this seems very inexpensive.

Maybe others know of less expensive in-home solutions?

Many parts of Pa are experimenting with training loved one care givers and actually allowing them to be paid.

sort of an extension of medicaid's cash and counseling program.

We do this with my 100 year old Aunt. she is very healthy for a 100 year old and absolutely did not want to go into assistant living. Her daughter is her primary care giver and gets paid, not sure how much to take care of her in their own home.

Now the problem is my cousin herself is in her 70's so we grappling with two seniors. I'm pissed at her though. she has COPD and smokes!! don't get me started her!!

 

[Potstickers]

But it is rare that you need 24/7 coverage... when you get to that point then a nursing home is the most cost-effective answer.

It (usually) isn't a decision made for cost reasons.

Three relatives -- and NONE of them were in the least bit interested in a nursing home even when they did eventually need 24-hour care. One had to go to a nursing home eventually because he lost all ability to help with transitions and one aide at a time was no longer enough. That was after many years of in-home care that graduated to 24-hour-care.

Sometimes people don't have a choice, but as long as finances even vaguely permit, they'll choose to stay at home. If you need a lot of assistance, it is not at all cheap.

YMMV.

Between them, my in-laws spent over $750K in long-term care expenses -- one with Parkinson's for almost 25 years, one simply debilitated and very long-lived.

 

[capjak]

Do you have an alternate plan?

No I do not maybe by that time I will have a personal robot or robotics such that it will not be as bad as it seems.

Jokingly I could get a bottle of Bourbon and go down to the beach at low tide drink the bottle and wait for the tide to take me....

 

[NYEXPAT]

Apparently, the money I spent putting my twin SIL's thru a 5 year nursing program was the best LTC insurance deal around. Now, I just need to convince the young wife to stick around the house the other 8 hours!