{"id":569740,"date":"2026-08-15T10:46:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T10:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569740\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T10:46:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T10:46:39","slug":"affordability-tips-how-to-save-money-on-long-term-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/569740\/","title":{"rendered":"Affordability Tips: How to Save Money on Long-Term Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Eileen Kalk\u2019s husband, Tom, 72, was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a> in 2020, she assumed finding the right long-term care program would be a matter of identifying the best facility. Instead, the semi-retired physician assistant living in Lakeport, California, discovered that affordability<\/a> \u2014 not availability \u2014 would become one of her family\u2019s biggest challenges.<\/p>\n

After years of caring for aging parents, Eileen, 70, suddenly found herself navigating the complex and expensive world of long-term care<\/a>. But like many families, Eileen had to weigh the quality of care against mounting costs and the need to be close enough to visit Tom regularly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked at home care, but for the number of hours Tom would need with aides, it actually would be more expensive than moving him into long-term care,\u201d says Eileen. She ultimately moved Tom into an older residential memory care community<\/a> about three and a half years ago, where he continues to receive care as his disease progresses.<\/p>\n

Financial reality of long-term care<\/p>\n

Eileen Kalk\u2019s experience highlights the difficult financial decisions thousands of caregivers face as they search for quality long-term care options, like nursing homes or memory care units. \u201cThe biggest shock isn\u2019t choosing a nursing home \u2014 it\u2019s realizing how quickly a lifetime of savings can disappear once long-term care becomes necessary,\u201d says Frank King, assistant teaching professor of health policy and administration at Penn State University.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Eileen<\/p>\n

Eileen Kalk had sticker shock when she started looking at long-term care options for her husband, Tom.<\/p>\n

Courtesy Eileen Kalk<\/p>\n

The annual cost of a private room in a nursing home is $127,750, a price tag that creates a direct financial burden for many caregivers. Between 2019 and 2024, the cost of long-term care services increased by 23\u00a0percent to 48\u00a0percent. In contrast, median age 65+ household incomes rose by 22\u00a0percent, according to a report<\/a> by the AARP Public Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

Most families pay for long-term care out of pocket. Medicare generally doesn\u2019t cover long-term care, but it may partly cover up to 100 days of nursing care following a qualifying hospital stay<\/a> if specific medical and doctor\u2019s approval are met.<\/p>\n

Medicaid not only provides health coverage for low-income individuals, but it also pays for nursing home care, including room and board. However, applicants must meet strict eligibility and income requirements.<\/p>\n

Planning ahead can help. Comparing care options and costs before a crisis can make a meaningful difference. \u201cAssisted living is less expensive than nursing home care, but also, in most states, less closely regulated. Rising prices for both have made affordability a growing challenge as price increases have outpaced Americans\u2019 income growth,\u201d says Alan Weil\ufeff , senior vice president at the AARP Public Policy Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Eileen Kalk\u2019s husband, Tom, 72, was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease in 2020, she assumed finding the right…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[6433,32532,76662,134,527,280797,109338,280802,280801,280800,280799,39209,8971,111,139,69,280798],"class_list":["post-569740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-affordability","tag-caregiving","tag-family-caregiving","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-long-term-care-insurance","tag-long-term-care","tag-long-term-care-communities","tag-long-term-care-facilities","tag-lower-nursing-home-costs","tag-make-long-term-care-affordable","tag-medicaid","tag-money-saving-tips","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-save-money-long-term-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}