Today’s seniors are living longer than ever before. On the surface, that sounds great: a longer lifespan means more time to do everything they’ve ever dreamed of! There’s just one problem: the graying of America is causing not only a great deal of personal expense to many Americans, but also public expense as the increased cost of caring for seniors puts heavier demand on the existing systems designed to provide for them. Here are some important pointers relevant to states on the east coast and across the country.
The Cost of Long-Term Care
Most senior care options don’t come cheap. Many seniors experience this reality all too quickly. Nursing homes can add up fast: a private room in America’s average nursing home facility costs close to $7,000 per month, running even higher in some states like NY. Even a semi-private room runs over $6,000. For this reason, many seniors are now trying to avoid nursing homes for as long as possible. One popular option is an assisted living facility, which still runs an average of $3,200 per month across the United States. Continuing Care Retirement Communities, which are open to seniors who require varying levels of care, can average more than any other option: with entrance fees that can equal $100,000 or more and monthly fees that average between $3,000 and $5,000, these are not communities for elderly individuals who are struggling to make ends meet. In fact, many seniors struggle to find the means to pay for their long-term care, leaving Medicaid, Medicare, and other public care programs responsible for paying for their twilight years.
Aging in Place
To help lower costs, many seniors choose to age in place, staying at home instead of moving into a long-term care facility. Aging in place, however, isn’t as inexpensive as it sounds at first. As increased care goes from convenience to necessity, many seniors find themselves needing to make modifications to their homes. They might need to install grab bars, widen doorways and add ramps for wheelchairs, or install a new bathtub or shower. Eventually, a hospital bed or rails for the existing bed may be needed. Home modifications, however, are not the only expensive parts of aging in place. Those seniors who choose this option may also find themselves needing to pay for in-home care, meal delivery, and even adult day care services in order to make it possible for them to stay at home longer.
Medicare and Medicaid Sustainability
Fifty years ago, Medicare and Medicaid were created in order to protect seniors and provide them with the medical care they needed during their twilight years. Unfortunately, it was impossible to predict the advances in medical technology or the current imbalance of seniors compared to the working population: as baby boomers enter their twilight years, more people are in need of Medicaid and Medicare services than ever before. The rising cost of health care has also put so much strain on these systems that they’re in danger of collapsing under it. Unfortunately, these programs are no longer adequate to providing the care that America’s graying population will need in the years to come.
Planning for the Future
Dealing with the rising cost of senior care isn’t just a personal problem. It’s necessary, as time goes on, to find ways to reduce the cost of elder care; find solutions that allow for the preservation of health of senior adults; and to look into European models that are currently effective in providing the care that seniors need. Improvements to the existing health care system are certainly necessary in order to ensure that seniors are able to receive the quality of care they deserve.
Personal planning as well as public planning is imperative at this juncture in order to prevent crisis. Baby boomers are hitting their twilight years quickly, and there aren’t enough solutions currently available to handle their medical needs. Seniors need to be prepared to handle their own costs of aging for as long as possible in order to help ease the burden on an over-stretched system. The public, however, will need to make changes to deal with its aging seniors sooner rather than later.