almost $14,000 a month, and that's just room and board. That doesn't include medical expenses, ancillary costs (bandages, 02 tubing etc.) or rehab.
Jesus Christ. You work your whole life to own a
home and it's taken away in a flash.
I just got hit with these numbers today so I'm reeling in shock.
Some depending on private donations to help defrey some of the costs so if it seems like an injustice to pay put of pocket/estate when needed volunteer some of your time in one of these facilities and learn how difficult it is maintaining good quality of life with staffing cuts, lack of medical supplies.
Just a thought...if families don't help out with the rising costs of skilled care when needed, who will ? In general the cost are just going to be passed on to everyone else through higher taxes who may not even have family members in these facilities, how fair is that?
When my Dad needed these services in a skilled facility his estate was used to help pay for the total medical expenses and when that ran out his insurance kicked in, all in all it's still still not enough. My siblings and myself supplemented what ever was needed to insure his comfort because we felt the responsibility and it wouldn't be supplied by the facility. Not because they didn't want to, because they couldn't afford to. We didn't expect our neighbors/general public to pay for our Dad's care expenses.
As stated above, I don't have all the answers to an ongoing problem of rising Health Care Cost in this country but the bottom line the money needs to come from somewhere. Lets face some hard facts here, unless you want to do the daily ass wiping, bathing, feeding, rehabing, med administation at home, (most familiy members won't and don't last a week doing this type of care in the home. So, in retrospect it's the circle of life, good, bad or indifferent, we all need to help where we can. Thanks for reading with an open mind...
One good thing in this otherwise gloomy picture is that ALL costs for nursing care are fully tax deductible! That means, transportation, meals, medical costs, drugs, ... everything.
It will take some sorting out of priorities and alternatives for you and your family. No easy choices here. But there must be less costly alternatives that you have yet to discover or learn about. One thing I have learned is that there is nothing special about what nursing homes do... except they have people on duty 24/7... That does NOT mean they are sitting in the room holding the hand of the loved one... It only means they are in the area (as in down the hall). The trick is to turn that nursing home skilled care around into something that is doable and affordable and meets your needs and the needs of your loved one. It is patently asinine for you to settle on $14,000 a month. I suppose there are places but don't go for "first class" when "coach" is all that is required... Find alternatives. They do exist (not knowing what part of the country you live in...).
Best of luck to you and your family!
everysooften
west Michigan
The problem is we need to find high flow oxygen that we can have at home.
I intend my last views of life to be plummting down the Zugspitze. I have no intention of prolonging my life when the quality has long since ceased to be worth experiencing. The assets I have accumulated will provide a moderate living from the dividends. I would prefer the principal to go to a worthy cause rather than keeping me alive past my life.
My father lived to be 92. The last 2 years of his life consisted of 7 hospital stays and 7 stays in a nursing home afterward until he was well enough to go home. Fortunately his mind was still keen until the end. However I would guess $1,000,000 in medical resources were used in the last 2 years to keep him alive. Not to worry, you and I paid for it so the doctors were fine giving him an MRI to determine what might be wrong with a 92 year old man every time he went to the hospital. Expensive blood tests, not a problem, Uncle Sam and his two insurance policies paid for it.
$14,000 a month, no thank you. I'd much rather take that money and drown off one of the Balaeric Islands. A slip and fall off the Matterhorn is a much better way to go than drooling in the hallway of a nursing home in my book.