It’s rare that a family does not have one or more parents, spouses or even children suffer debilitating illness or injury. In one way or another, it’s a problem that virtually every American family faces, said a spokesman for the SCAN Foundation, which researches such topics.
Among people aged 65 today, some 70 percent will need long-term care before they die, according to U.S. government studies. In many cases, the need will not be for medical care, but for assistance with such daily tasks as bathing, food preparation, shopping and other necessary chores. Often, these needs arise after a medical event, such as injury in a fall or a major illness.
The costs of such care can quickly outstrip what has been saved for retirement. A person who is 65 can expect to incur $138,000 in long-term care costs, according to a 2017 Bipartisan Policy Center report. Other studies determine that few people in the 40-year age range have included provision for such care in their retirement plans.
The AARP, which serves people 55 and older, has a long-term care calculator that shows average costs for different types of services by state and metropolitan region. The most expensive is nursing home care, which now averages $97,000 per year, according to a 2017 survey conducted by Genworth Financial. Assisted living facilities average about $45,000 per year. Adult Day Care centers charge an average of $70 per day.
Too many people facing retirement believe that Medicare will pay for such services. But the federal medical program does not pay for nursing home stays or non-skilled living assistance, which make up the majority of the services needed to care for the elderly. More than 50 percent of those who need these services end up paying out-of-pocket, according to the Policy Center report. The figure rises to 70 percent for those who have more severe long-term needs. Saving are quickly depleted.
Many of the elderly are forced to turn to state Medicaid, programs that supplement health care costs. Rules vary from one state to another, so a review of what your own state provides should be part of your retirement planning. You may be required to spend down your savings to qualify.
Only 11 percent of older Americans have private long-term care insurance. Premiums are prohibitively expensive for most people, the Policy Center said Insurance companies have found that their estimates of how lucrative such policies would be were not correct and the number of companies offering the policies has declined dramatically.
Bottom line: Begin early to look realistically at your retirement provisions and don’t get caught flat-footed when the time comes. If you begin early to purchase long-term care insurance, your premiums will be lower. But you must consider how tight your retirement income will be post-retirement if you expect to continue to buy the insurance when it is most likely to be needed.