How long do people live in Assisted Living? In Nursing Homes? (grandparents, community)
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My 59 year old morbidly obese, smoking sister had a major stroke and ended up in a nursing home, where she lived in hell for 9 years.
Assisted living, for recovering fully and returning to one's home is the only thing I'd do...if I could afford it. I'll do anything and everything I can to avoid a nursing home. That's not living, and it's worse than dying, from what I've seen.
Let's say hypothetically someone wants to be able to have the resources for self-pay for 10 years in an Assisted Living Facility. Yes, a person might not need that - or might need more. But just for sake of discussion let's say 10 years in ALF.
Let's say the person is 65 years old today (2023).
Let's say the person expects to enter ALF at age 75 (2033).
Let's say the person targets an ALF that today charges $6,000 per month ($72,000 per year).
10 years from now, what will the ALF charge per year? Hard to say, and hard to say adjusted for inflation.
But if we guess it will raise prices by 5% per year, then come 2033, when the person is 75, ALF will charge close to $12,593 per month ($151,125 per year), continuing to go up each year:
The price doesn't only rise due to raising costs across the board though. Cost is dependent on level of care. When my mom moved in, she did everything herself, including taking her own meds. So her cost was about $3300 a month. But the person across the hall who needed help for showers and meds might pay $4800, and the person next door who needs help with all ADLs and needs to be wheeled to the dining room, might pay $8000 a month. My mom was pretty much total care the last year and her costs had risen to over $9000 a month because of that care level, but others in the facility paid much less.
My 59 year old morbidly obese, smoking sister had a major stroke and ended up in a nursing home, where she lived in hell for 9 years.
Assisted living, for recovering fully and returning to one's home is the only thing I'd do...if I could afford it. I'll do anything and everything I can to avoid a nursing home. That's not living, and it's worse than dying, from what I've seen.
I had a cousin, same age as me, didn't smoke but was morbidly obese. Had blood clots in her lungs, couldn't walk, after the last time she fell, her family put her in a nursing home. She was 55. Died at 61.
Both my grandmothers died in the same nursing home, 26 years apart. One was 83 when she died. I don't remember how long she was there. A year or two? The other went in at 92 when she needed more care than my then-71-year-old mother could do. She was there for 2 and a half years. It was five minutes from home, and family visited both grandmothers frequently. Nearly daily. Both grandmothers lived with my parents for a few years before they got to the point of requiring nursing-home level care.
My grandfathers both died at home, as did both my own parents.
The price doesn't only rise due to raising costs across the board though. Cost is dependent on level of care. When my mom moved in, she did everything herself, including taking her own meds. So her cost was about $3300 a month. But the person across the hall who needed help for showers and meds might pay $4800, and the person next door who needs help with all ADLs and needs to be wheeled to the dining room, might pay $8000 a month. My mom was pretty much total care the last year and her costs had risen to over $9000 a month because of that care level, but others in the facility paid much less.
How did she qualify to go into assisted living if she was capable of living independently? What grounds did you use to qualify her to move into that facility?
The price doesn't only rise due to raising costs across the board though. Cost is dependent on level of care. When my mom moved in, she did everything herself, including taking her own meds. So her cost was about $3300 a month. But the person across the hall who needed help for showers and meds might pay $4800, and the person next door who needs help with all ADLs and needs to be wheeled to the dining room, might pay $8000 a month. My mom was pretty much total care the last year and her costs had risen to over $9000 a month because of that care level, but others in the facility paid much less.
This brought back a memory of my friend's mother, who went into assisted living when it became apparent she was in the early stages of dementia. She was 90 when she went in, 92 when she died, and her dementia never advanced so far that she did not know her daughters. But she was also mobile and quite spry until near the end, and she would look at other residents of her ALF lined up in their wheelchairs and say, "Look at all those deadbeats. I'm supposed to hang around with them?"
Not something she would have said in her younger days!
The price doesn't only rise due to raising costs across the board though. Cost is dependent on level of care. When my mom moved in, she did everything herself, including taking her own meds. So her cost was about $3300 a month. But the person across the hall who needed help for showers and meds might pay $4800, and the person next door who needs help with all ADLs and needs to be wheeled to the dining room, might pay $8000 a month.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
My mom was pretty much total care the last year and her costs had risen to over $9000 a month because of that care level, but others in the facility paid much less.
Do you think the percentages will change or just that the number of boomers is just higher?
The other thought, are we healthier than earlier generations because we have more info and better preventative care? Can we plan better to try and avoid going into assisted living or a nursing home?
IMO, not really. I’d even argue that a healthier life increases the odds that you eventually end up in a home, because you can outkick your body’s coverage. If you did at 80 it’s more likely you were still physically able to dress yourself, drive, have your mental faculties…at 90 that’s less likely. It’s only anecdotal but in my family and my wife’s family this plays out.
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