In-Home Care, Assisted Living, or Nursing Home? Share this page:

In-Home Care, Assisted Living, or Nursing Home?

If Seniors Helping Seniors can help you in any way, please call
(772) 492-8381.

There will inevitably come a time when we, our parents, grandparents, or other loved ones may require more care than they can provide for themselves.  We are living longer than ever, and life expectancy has been steadily increasing for decades.  It is currently age 86.6 for women who are now 65 years of age and 84.3 for a man who is now 65.  One of the first things to determine is how much and what type(s) of extra help is needed. 

It could start with meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication reminders, companionship or help with simple activities of daily living (ADLs).  This type of care can easily be provided while the client remains in their own home where they are surrounded by everything that is familiar to them.

On the other hand, if a person is suffering from advanced dementia, Alzheimer’s, or can no longer perform ADLs by themselves, a nursing home may be the correct choice for care.  Making these decisions can be stressful and upsetting to all involved, but a little advance planning can make it less so.  In general, the more care that a senior requires, the more expensive it can get.  A rule of thumb is that if a senior needs more than 40 hours of care a week, it may be cheaper for them to be in an assisted living facility.

The issues of aging affect everyone in the family and can impact everyone’s lives from the caregiver to the grandchildren.  And living longer, means that money saved for retirement will need to last longer than we originally anticipated, since it will also need to cover long term care costs, whether we chose to remain at home, or go into an assisted living facility or nursing home.  In many societies and countries, elders are cared for by their family until they die.  In the United States, it is impractical to assume that our children or grandchildren will take care of us in our older years, as they most likely will have full time jobs and children of their own to care for.  That is why it is so important to plan for our anticipated needs ahead of time.

It is also important to recognize that in these times of COVID it is becoming increasingly harder for In-Home, Assisted Living, and Nursing Homes to find adequate health care staffing and the United States is projected to face a shortage of 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033, according to Dr. David Skorton, the president and chief executive of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In an article by Mariel Padilla for The 19^th*, she reported that only one in four nursing homes feel confident that they can survive another year.  Click on the link below for more details.

Only 1 in 4 nursing homes are confident they can survive a year (19thnews.org)

So, if you need to plan for long term health care needs, the time to begin is now.  Do not wait until the last minute, as they may be difficult to obtain if you have not already begun the process.  The information below will also help you to know realize far your savings will stretch, depending upon the type of care that you will need.

2020 Genworth Cost of Care Survey/Monthly Median Costs: National (2020)

In-Home Care

• Homemaker Services              $4,481
• Homemaker Health Aide        $4,576

Adult Day Health Care                        $1,603

Assisted Living Facility                        $4,300

Nursing Home Care

• Semi-private Room                 $7,756
• Private Room                          $8,821