The Genworth 2013 Cost of Care Survey shows that the cost of receiving care in a setting such as an assisted living facility or nursing home is dramatically increasing, while the cost to receive care at home through homemaker services or a home health aide is rising at a much more gradual pace.
Over the past 10 years of the study, the median annual nursing home costs have gone up from $65,200 to $83,950, increasing at more than four percent a year.
The median annual cost for care in an assisted living facility is $41,400. This represents an increase of 4.6 percent since 2012 and a 4.3 percent annual increase over the past five years.
In all the debate over the Affordable Care Act, we are missing the bigger picture. Obamacare is about providing insurance for hospitalization. Not sure about you but I do not plan to grow old in a hospital. Most of us want to grow old in our communities, not in a nursing home or an assisted living home. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at least 70% of people over age 65 will require some long term care services at some point; more than 40% will need care in a nursing home.
My platform is educated aging, the notion that if you plan sooner in life for aging you will age with a better quality of life. I fell into a mission for elders partly because I am a healthcare professional but mostly because one day I found myself singing and performing in nursing homes.
I contend that a lot of people in these homes got there not because age caught up with them but because they did not keep up with themselves. But I have also learned a lot about leading a quality of life from these very residents. I can point you to a blind, wheel-chaired bound resident who has a better quality of life than those on the “outside.” And it always has a lot to do with the person they were before they ever arrived at the nursing home.
In my writing for Ground Report, I plan to cover three areas – physical aging, emotional aging, and financial aging.
How we take care of ourselves when we are younger will affect how we age, barring any uncontrollable factors. Most of the chronic conditions in this country are a result of lifestyle and can be easily reversed. Yet it seems the better medicine becomes, the more we depend on it. So in addition to reading my health tips, I will implore you to take responsibility for your own health.
There are so many misconceptions about how long term care is paid for. Except in a few circumstances, the sad reality is that many people will become destitute and hopefully qualify for Medicaid in order to pay for care. There are some other options, but few. And that is the kick in the gut. Lead a good life, work hard, save and then see it all disappear with one nursing home stay.
Emotional aging has more to do with what we can learn from our elders. I spend thousands of hours around them and I can see what makes them resilient in the face of pain and suffering, how they practice gratefulness that in turn enriches their life and others.
So we have lots to cover…
I look forward to sharing my insights into aging through Ground Report.