How Will I Know Long Term Care is For Me?
Long term care (LTC) refers to a wide range of services that are provided to any individual who is incapable of living independently due to functional limitations or cognitive impairment.
Functional limitations and being cognitively impaired hinder a person from living normally or at least performing the basic activities of daily living (ADL) such as eating, bathing, dressing, toilet use, managing continence, and transferring from one room of the house to the living room or to another room.
Illness is not a prerequisite for LTC. While there are people who can’t bathe or eat on their own due to serious medical conditions, there are some who just woke up one day and ceased from moving. Some people link this to stroke while others say it just comes with old age.
You don’t have to be a senior citizen to qualify for care. Anyone can require it, even babies with special needs. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says 40% of the population in the country that is currently receiving care is comprised of individuals from the 18 to 64 age group.
Various reasons can be attributed to one’s need for care. Weakened bones due to old age, spinal injury stemming from an accident, and sickness are just among those reasons. Now if an occasion or incident subjects you to LTC, you have to be financially equipped for this can drain your assets in less than a year.
Unfortunately, financial experts say nobody’s bank account will ever be enough to cover the cost of care which rises at a very fast rate.
At present, the annual rate for a private nursing home room is $77,745, on average. This can go higher or lower based on the median cost of care in your state of residence.
Choices of Long Term Care Facilities
Your choice of LTC facility will also determine how much you’re more likely to spend in the future. For example, the average monthly rate of an assisted living facility is $3,126 but if you’re expecting to receive care 20 years from now you should put away at least $12,504 per year for an assisted living facility as the cost of care is projected to increase fourfold by that time.
On the other hand, if you are anticipating care at home, the national hourly rate of a home health aide is $19 while in Florida it’s $22. See the big difference? This is precisely why everybody is being egged on purchasing a well thought out LTC plan.
In 2030, the median hourly rate of a home health aide will increase to $76 which is tantamount to $608 for eight hours of work on a given day.
Rates of LTC services are, indeed, heading upwards so construct a plan for your future LTC while you have time and are in the best of health. Get long term care quotes today.
Long term care is part of life and whether we admit it or not, we are all going to need some degree of it someday because nobody stays young eternally.
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