Genworth Financial recently released a survey showing that the cost of long term care continues to outpace inflation with no indication of this trend reversing over time.
The current national median cost for a home health aide is $4,099 per month. The median cost for an assisted living facility is $3,750 per month. The median cost of a semi-private room at a full-service nursing home is now $7,148 per month and the median cost of a private room at a nursing home is now $8,121 per month.
Genworth also projects monthly costs to go up significantly over the coming decades:
Home Health Aide
2027 – $5,509
2037 – $7,403
Assisted Living Facility
2027 – $5,040
2037 – $6,773
Nursing Home, Semi-Private Room
2027 – $9,606
2037 – $12,910
Nursing Home, Private Room
2027 – $10,914
2037 – $14,667
https://www.genworth.com/about-us/industry-expertise/cost-of-care.html
In addition, Medicare currently does not cover long term care. Medicaid does provide nursing home coverage, but unless couples or individuals have planned for the possibility for Medicaid nursing home coverage, Medicaid will not cover nursing home expenses until an individual’s or couple’s assets are below a very restrictive level. Without planning, long term care expenses can quickly burn through even significant rainy day funds, seemingly robust retirement savings, and planned inheritances for loved ones.
The solution to avoiding losing a lifetime’s worth of savings to long term care coverage costs is to start planning with an experienced elder law attorney sooner rather than later when there may not be enough time to protect assets.
To develop a plan to prepare for potential long term care costs, please call Martha C. Brown & Associates at (314) 962-0186.
