Nearly 70% of Americans will need some form of long-term care, but changes in the way care is delivered and the increasing costs to provide it certainly presents some challenges, according to a recent segment of the Today show.
Chatting with Today financial editor Jean Chatzky and Carol Levine, author of “Planning Long-term Care for Dummies,” the segment discusses several things people need to know when it comes to senior care. The main theme: times have changed and it’s no longer your grandmother’s long-term care anymore.
“The newer approach to long-term care is really not your grandmother’s long-term care. It’s a far wider range of options and it goes on for longer periods of time, and it involves many more choices,” Levine said. “I think it’s very exciting to have options that are person-centered that are not based on what institutions need, but it’s also confusing and complicated and you need to do a lot of homework now.”
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As always, affording such care has high cost implications.
For example, the average cost of hiring a full-time home health aide could ranges between $40,000 to $75,000 per year, according to data Today attributed to LongTermCare.gov. Meanwhile, yearly costs for assisted living can amount to $40,000 and $74,000 for private nursing come care.
“People look at these numbers and they think: well, I can’t do that so I’m not going to do anything, which is a huge mistake,” said Chatzky.
See more at Today.
Written by Jason Oliva
