Genworth Financial released its annual long term care costs survey for 2009 that finds that the costs for nursing home and in-home care as well as assisted living have continued to surge.  The study shows that the cost of labor is the driving factor in the increases in the report and that the costs of a private room in a private room in a nursing home is more than 74,000 per year which is almost a 5% increase from 2008.  Nationally, the median annual cost for a private room in an assisted living facility is $33,903, and costs have also increased by 5 percent annually over the past five years, the survey found.

The report shows that the cost of in-home care rose the least where the hourly cost for in-home care for non-Medicare certified workers rose less than one percent from 2008.  The study showed that the Northeast is the most expensive region of the nation for nursing homes, while the Midwest is the least costly.

"In 2009, we expanded the scope and depth of our annual Cost of Care Survey to help American families answer the question ‘what’s the cost and availability of long term care in my local community,’" said Buck Stinson, president, insurance products at Genworth Financial. "Two-thirds of people over age 65 will need long term care in their lifetimes. Such local information is invaluable to families and their trusted advisors in mapping out a financial security strategy to cover the growing cost of this vital care."

Genworth’s 2009 Cost of Care Survey was conducted by its subsidiary, CareScout, during the first quarter of the year. The study covers more than 14,000 nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home health and adult day health care providers in 331 regions across the country.

For more information on the survey, click here.