It’s no secret that the price of long-term care insurance is high. It’s high for everyone, not only the patients, but also the caregivers. They pay in more than money to make sure their loved ones in need of care, are given the best they can manage.

ThinkAdvisor’s recent article, “15 Most Expensive States for Long-Term Care: 2017,” says that this year’s version of Genworth Financial’s annual study on the cost of care nationwide is not reassuring. The cost of nursing home care is on the rise, as well as the cost of care provided at home, for adult day care and assisted living facilities. Costs have increased steadily, and for those licensed homemakers—those who provide what the study calls “hands-on personal care” for patients still in their homes—are jumping the fastest, increasing 6.17% in the past year. With most seniors wanting to stay in their homes, that will impact many people very hard.

Less-skilled “homemaker care,” such as cooking, cleaning and running errands has also risen, at 4.75% since last year. However, both types of homemaker assistance are at the low end on the price scale: $21 for homemaker care, and $22 for licensed homemaker care.

Elsewhere, adult day care increased by 2.94% since last year, to a national median rate of $70 per day. Assisted living facilities now average a median monthly rate of $3,750, which is an increase of 3.36% from last year, and nursing homes increased 5.50% for a private room. That’s a median daily rate of $267.

When caregivers sacrifice their own financial well-being to care for their family members, they can spend on average of $10,000 out of their own pockets for expenses. This can be for household expenses, personal items or transportation services, as well as paying for informal caregivers or LTC facilities.

Approximately 62% of caregivers are paying for these expenses out of their own retirement funds, and 45% have experienced a drop in their basic quality of living because of it. In addition, 38% have decreased the amount they put into savings and retirement to meet the costs of care.

Another side effect of all this stress, is that 27% of respondents said it’s had a negative impact on their relationship with the person for whom they’re caring. The price of all this devotion is that absences, reduced hours, and chronic tardiness can end up impacting a caregiver’s pay, with about 50% of caregivers saying they lost a third of their income.

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Jeffrey Bellomo, Esq.

 

Reference: ThinkAdvisor (October 2, 2017) “15 Most Expensive States for Long-Term Care: 2017”