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Staying Financially Healthy

Cost of Aging:  Caregiving - Unanticipated Costs

7/30/2020

 
By Mark Olshaker | Care of the National Aging In Place Council

Half of all men age 65 or over and 60 percent of women will need a high level of personal care at some point. Three-fourths of seniors with long-term care needs live at home, and nearly two-thirds of those receive all of their help from unpaid family members and friends. For those who do have compensated care, Medicare or Medicaid pays about 42 percent of the costs and private insurance covers about five percent, the remaining 53 percent is paid out-of-pocket.

When we consider average lifetime long-term care spending, 53 percent comes out-of-pocket, 34 percent is paid by Medicaid, and 13 percent from other sources. For home and residential care, it breaks down to 68 percent out-of-pocket, 19 percent Medicaid and 13 percent other. For nursing home care, it’s 35 percent out-of-pocket, 51 percent Medicaid and 14 percent other. And keep in mind that Medicaid is needs-based and not available to most seniors with moderate assets.

Medicare pays for a limited amount of long-term supportive services, but eligibility requirements are strict and generally cover only four to ten hours a week....
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Cost of Aging: Health Technology - Smart Phones, Tablets and More

7/23/2020

 
By Mark Olshaker | Care of the National Aging In Place Council

In the field of health technology, we’ve come a long way from the days of the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” emergency response devices. They’re still around, and highly useful for elderly or impaired seniors, but now they’re mobile and much more sophisticated. 

Laurie M. Orlov, a technology expert, writer, speaker and elder care advocate, is the founder of Aging in Place Technology Watch, which provides thought leadership, analysis and guidance about technologies and services that enable boomers and seniors to remain longer in their home of choice. She divides aging in place technologies into four categories: 


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Cost of Aging: Healthcare - The Return of the Housecall

7/16/2020

 
By Mark Olshaker | Care of National Aging In Place Council

“As health care providers, we’re very aware of people who could be cared for at home. But our healthcare system is very siloed, and physicians and hospitals don’t always have the incentives to keep people at home.” 

So states Teresa L. Lee, an attorney and Master of Public Health, who is the Executive Director of the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation, a nonprofit with a mission of leading and sponsoring research and education on the value home health provides to patients and the entire American healthcare system. The problem, she observes, is that the system was built in a certain way, and that way can be summarized by the phrase “fee for service.” 

These issues do not affect older adults in a direct financial way as much as they do the healthcare payment system as a whole. But the indirect effect in terms of higher insurance and Medicare premiums and co-pays and limiting resources, can be profound.

When it comes to medical care, particularly for older adults and the elderly, there is often an inherent tension between payers – the government, insurance companies and individual patients – wanting the keep costs down, and hospitals having to fill beds and providers to perform services for payment....

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Cost of Aging: Moving - Cost of Downsizing

7/9/2020

 
As we continue our "Cost of Aging" series we cover the possibility of downsizing. Bendix Anderson addresses some of the challenges. 

Moving from a larger home to a smaller one may help older adults lower their costs or help pay for their needs as they grow older.

However, moving comes with its own set of challenges and expenses.

Many older adults have an emotional connection to their home and neighborhood – about two-thirds have lived in their current home for over a decade. “Many (older adults) prefer to remain in their current homes and communities,” according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

However, if they have raised a family, their current home may have space that is no longer being used...... 

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Cost of Aging: Home Modification - How to Stay in the Home You Love

7/2/2020

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Many older adults use reverse mortgages to do home renovations. The purpose is to remain in their homes for as long as possible. However they frequently don't take aging in place needs into consideration when deciding upon which renovations to make. This is where a Certified Aging In Place Specialist (CAPS) comes in. The right analysis can save hundreds of thousands of dollars and make for a much safer and enjoyable life style for the home owners and their guests. 

The National Home Builders Association recognizes individuals with the CAPS designation as experts in home modification for older adults.

This is what Bendix Anderson in connection with the National Aging in Place Council (NAIPC) has to say about home modifications and aging in place.

As older adults become more frail, they may have difficulty navigating their own homes where they have lived for years. Stairs may become difficult to climb. More frail older adults may use a wheelchair that doesn’t fit through narrow doorways.

If aging persons want to continue to live in their current homes, they may need to renovate them so they become easier places to live.

These renovations or modifications range from simple changes like removing throw rugs that may lead to falls to wider doorways that can accommodate a wheelchair to “grab bars” that may prevent falls in bathrooms. Substantial but basic design and structural modifications average $9,000 to $12,000 per one-story residence, according to an analysis by MetLife.

Homes may need different renovations depending on regional differences in housing stocks. For example, many homes in the Northeast are built on multiple levels and fail to provide a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor, while nearly 84 percent of homes in the South provide single-floor living, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

About 10.3 million households aged 50 and over report having someone at home with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs, according to the JCHS. More than half – 5.5 million households – live in homes that require them to climb stairs to enter or exit. “Assuming the average outlay for a ramp falls at the midpoint of the range described above ($2,400), the cost of improving the accessibility of these 5.5 million homes would total $13.2 billion,” says the JCHS. That shows a huge unmet need that may force many frail older adults to eventually move.

Aging in place may be more cost-effective for seniors than “downsizing” and moving into formal senior housing.

MetLife deepened its analysis to include some of the costs included in the price of living at a seniors housing community. A typical older adult living in a single-family home might pay:

• $850 per month for costs such as utilities, taxes and maintenance

• $250 per month for food

• $456 per month for three hours of daily assistance, twice weekly at $19 per hour

• $804 per month for three days per week in adult day services. 

Even with these costs, it would still take just 14 months to break even on the cost of home health services and the home renovation, compared to the cost of moving into an assisted living community priced at $3,000 month. “By the end of 24 months there is a net savings near $10,000 (if you remain in your home),” according to MetLife.
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    Mathius Marc Gertz
    Mathius Marc Gertz MBA, AFC®, CAPS
    Marc has 36 years in financial services and 6 years in teaching.
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