The Future Looks Terrible for U.S. Nursing Home Costs

By Luke McGrath | June 25, 2019

  • May 7, 2020 at 6:42 pm
    Ellen says:
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    Americans should be very angry about the lack of regulation over nursing home prices. They charge what they do because our government lets them. My mother’s memory care costs $82,000 a year and that’s cheap. She’s been in there for five years and that’s the least expensive facility I could find. As I approach old age, any savings I would have inherited that could pay for my care (I have two parents with Alzehimer’s) will be gone. I will require Medicare, which means the US Taxpayers will pay for my care, when I could have paid for it myself, had there been some protection against this price gouging.

    People think in-home services are cheaper. They aren’t by much. If you are happy with dealing with an angry, violent dementia parent and don’t mind changing their diapers every few hours, do nothing. If that bothers you, move yourself out of America or advocate for change!

    If people live an average of 10-15 years with Alzheimer’s, do the math and see if you can possibly afford it. Medicare won’t pay until you are down to your last $2000 in assets. Good luck “gifting” your kids the money too because there is a five-year lookback law. You better time your dementia onset perfectly! It’s ludicrous.

    Otherwise, if you vote for politicians who don’t believe in government “handouts”, you will be out of luck when you need care. They are consistently reducing Medicare benefits, while doing nothing to regulate the ridiculous robbery by the nursing home industry. The people who own these facilities are millionaires, if not billionaires, while they pay staff $11 – people who are primarily immigrants. It’s a disgusting industry that hurts everyone.

    The industry has powerful lobbyists in Washington. We don’t. However, the Boomers who are aging now live a far more expensive American than the WWII Generation and have less savings. Don’t even think about Gen X or Millennials being able to pay for it. Long-term care insurance is very expensive. These facilities will not be ABLE to charge this much in the future because no one will be able to pay this kind of ridiculous money. If you can afford a $283 a day hotel, you will be fine. The rest of us? We would be lucky to spend a night in a hotel that expensive – much less 10 years.



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