There are many types of costs that a senior generally never wants to hear are going up. One such type are nursing home costs. Unfortunately, a recent report indicates that going up is exactly what nursing home costs are doing here in the United States.
The report was done by Genworth Financial and it is based off of data that came from a survey of nursing homes and other elder care providers.
The report estimates that, in America, $91,250 a year is the current median cost for a private room stay at a nursing home. This is a $3,650 increase from the median cost for such a stay in 2014.
The last five years have been ones in which the general trend has been fairly substantial rises in nursing home costs in America. Over this period, the country has seen an average annual increase of 4 percent when it comes to the median cost of a private room stay at a nursing home.
How does the average median cost of a private room stay at a nursing home here in Massachusetts compare to the national median? It is actually quite a bit higher. The report estimates the median cost in Massachusetts to be $139,580 a year.
Given how much nursing home care can cost here in Massachusetts, the possibility of needing such care in the future is something that could be a major source of financial worry for elderly individuals in the state.
Among the things that it can be important for seniors in Massachusetts to know is that there are strategies that can be used to prepare for the possibility of facing high nursing home costs. Such strategies can include things like setting up trusts for care planning and Medicaid planning purposes. Elder law attorneys can provide legal advice to elderly individuals when it comes to what can be done to prepare for possible future nursing home care costs.
Source: Providence Journal, “Study finds staggering rise in cost of long-term care for elderly,” Matthew Craft, April 13, 2015