Cost of Assisted Living

In any given year, more than 10 million people, most aged 65 or older, are in the long-term care of assisted living or nursing home facilities in the United States. For their families, that means considerable 'out of pocket' expenses must be dedicated to the cost of assisted living. In fact, some estimates suggest that over 75% of those expenses are borne directly by the patient themselves or their immediate and extended families.

If you and your loved one are considering making the move toward senior living or a nursing home environment, you'll certainly want to know as much about the costs that are involved as you can. The cost of assisted living will no doubt make a significant impact on family finances, but one of the many advantages the concept offers is that it's typically much less than the cost of a nursing home.

Comprehensive care nursing facilities can cost up to 50% more than their counterparts in assisted living. The reasons are fairly obvious; the patients in the care of nursing homes typically have magnified medical and domestic needs compared to those in senior living. As such, everything from medical staffing to liability and malpractice insurance must be dealt with in larger numbers than required for partial senior living. At the end of the day, nursing homes are really just smaller versions of hospitals, while senior living can take any of several different approaches, all of which are generally considered to be closer to a home environment than the classic nursing home model.

So what is the cost of senior living? The answer, of course, is that it depends on a broad range of factors, such as the amount of care needed or the patient's location.

Depending on whether the patient will need intermittent care in his own home or a full-time staff at a senior living building, the difference in cost can range from a few hundred dollars per month for in-home care, to several thousand dollars for an upscale apartment in a room and board facility.

As for location, the same cost of living factors that affect those without senior living needs will have an impact on those who do. Estimates suggest that depending upon which state the patient will reside within, the cost can vary by more than 150%. For example, 2007 estimates point to an annual cost of assisted living in North Dakota at just over $23,000.00 per year. Washington DC, however, would have cost over $60,000.00 in the same year!

The cost of assisted living will always be dependent on a variety of elements. The decision to place a loved one in the care of strangers, professional though they may be, is hard enough without the financial aspects to consider. But with a small investment in time to research your options, you may find that the financial sting of the experience can be minimized without compromising on the quality of care.