Elderly Care Costs Are Nearly $100K a Year Time to Consider Long Term Care Insurance

Finances
5th in a series of 5 posts

Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network

Long term care. It's something none of us really want to ever have to even think about. Whether it involves having to arrange extended care for a beloved parent or another family member or even to start planning for possibly having to rely on it later ourselves, just the thought of it and the financial complexities it entails are enough to overwhelm the average person.

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But with more than 70 percent of all people over 65 eventually needing long-term care it's an inevitable reality that a good many of us will have to contend with. In fact the cost of long term care has increased for the sixth consecutive year and these price elevations are outpacing inflation. 

Make no bones about it, having a caregiver can be expensive, it can even bankrupt the person affected or his/her family. These costs probably are even pricer than you might realize, especially if you aren't already familiar with the associated escalating costs as the U.S. population ages and lives longer.

For example, click on the chart above and select the state where you might need long term care because costs will vary depending on the region. I checked annual expenses in California where I live and was absolutely shocked to discover that Home Care averages $52,510 for a home health aide and $50,336 for homemaker services; Assisted Living averages $44,520; and a Nursing Home costs $83,950 for a semi-private room. That's a huge amount of money, for sure. How many people can afford to pay for that even for just one year?

But, as I discovered while doing some research for this story, long term care isn't as scary as it first seems once you've educated yourself about the basics. Without a doubt, planning for long term care while a person is healthy is the ideal time to start a conversation about this important topic. In fact, beginning with learning about what you need to know about Long Term Care Insurance can make providing quality care for an aging family member much more affordable than going the self-insured route and having to take nearly $100,000 out of your own pocket each year.

Image provided by Genworth Financial

About Genworth
Genworth, headquartered in Richmond, VA, offers a range of services to client living in all 50 U.S. states. Among the products available are retirement income, life and long term care insurance and mortgage insurance. For more information visit Genworth.com and their Twitter and Facebook pages.

FTC Disclosure: Information for this post is sourced from Genworth Financial in partnership with the SheHeard Influencer Network, however all opinions are my own. See complete FTC Disclosure information that appears at the bottom of MommyBlogExpert's main page and at the bottom of every individual post on this blog, including this one.