The Rising Cost Of Care

Genworth’s 2019 Cost of Care study was recently released.  The most unsettling statistic was that the cost of care provided at home went up the most.  Again.   The highest increase, at just over 7%, was seen for “Homemaker” services which include tasks such as cooking, cleaning, running errands and companionship. The second-highest increase, 4.55%, was for Home Care services which are non-medical but more personal in nature such as help with bathing, dressing, and toileting.

Staying Home

Receiving home care is the first (and often the only desirable) option for many Americans.  Nothing beats the comforts of home!  This growing aging in place trend finds many boomers rightsizing into smaller one-level ranch-style homes.  This often means making significant investments into upgrades such as nonskid flooring, better lighting, zero-entry showers, wider doorways, installing grab bars, etc.   Downsizing is a lot of work and often professional help is needed to sort and organize, sell or donate.

Who can help?

Preparations to stay home should also include making a plan for who will provide care if it is needed. Who lives close by?  Children?  Siblings? Friends? What would they be willing to do to help?  An equally important question is what are you willing to let them help you with?  Where do you draw the line?  Who will you let pay your bills, drive you to Dr. appointments or help with household maintenance and yard work?  What about help in the bathroom – be it toileting or bathing?  Even when someone is willing and able to do the work for free, there will still be a cost to providing that help.

The high cost of care

Many sons and daughters spend up to 24 hours per week caregiving in addition to their own full-time job and other commitments.   This can lead to financial consequences such as lost overtime pay, bonuses, and promotions.  There are also emotional consequences such as caregiver burnout.  The additional stress and lack of sleep can result in the physical consequence of developing a chronic health condition of their own.  When the home care workload isn’t divided equally between siblings (and how can it be?) often strife breaks out as relationships are strained.

Market pressures

Caregiving is hard work.  Those who work in this field are not highly paid which has led to a shortage of workers and considerable competition between agencies. This increased pressure and the ever-growing demand are no doubt going to keep being the driving factors behind the rising costs of staying home.  It simply costs less to share staff at one location such as a Senior Living Community or Nursing Home.  There’s no lost transportation time between individual client homes.

Long Term Care Insurance

Long Term Care Insurance can be used to pay for Home Care. Having the ability to pay for the high cost of care when it is actually needed will be crucial. If you plan to age in place, please explore Long Term Care Insurance while you are healthy.  No other tool comes close to providing the financial leverage of insurance.  Policies provide built-in increases to the daily benefit that will grow at either 3% and 5% compound interest.  With care, as with all things in life, you enjoy what you can afford. If staying at home is your goal, don’t be priced out of the caregiver market.