At approximately $10000 a month (currently) it shouldn’t be millions, but it is a large amount of money. We were paying $6000/month for memory care for my dad and I consider that a good value considering how difficult that job is. Hospice provides additional care and it is free. Had my dad lived another year, he would’ve ended up on Medicaid. My mom would get to keep their condo, a car, her meager social security, and about $22000 that is the current “spend down” amount required to qualify for Medicaid. My dad would’ve been sent to a nursing home that has a Medicaid bed. Those are hard to find and are often not very nice. In our state, Memory Care facilities do not have Medicaid beds, so a skilled nursing facility would be the only option. It is a problem for people (like my parents) who worked middle class jobs their whole lives, saved as much as possible, lived frugally, and paid for our education. My dad had Alzheimer’s which complicated matters significantly. Given the fact that people are living longer and Alzheimer’s can be impossible to manage at home, our generation needs to make plans for the future with that in mind.
Yes, it can be expensive, for sure, especially depending upon where you live. My grandmother had dementia and many other issues, and lived in an adult family home for several years. That was much better than going to a nursing home. Far cheaper, more personal attention, and she was very happy there. I would much rather myself or a family member end up in a place like that instead of a nursing home.
For my mom, we pay for 24/7/365 caregivers. It’s about $800-1000/day plus several thousand/month for facilities and meal fee. It’s a lot of money but fortunately dad saved a lot and left a significant estate.
These seem to be much more common on the west coast and nearby.
I wish there were more of these in the northeast!
Definitely not “millions”. My uncles very nice upscale care was around 150k per year. So in 5 years 750k minus a tax savings (could deduct for this level). So well under one million.