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QUESTION: We had a discussion here recently about costs for assisted living. Today, in
the Wal Street Journal, they have an article about it. Monthly costs vary from
a high in Washington, DC($4,429) to a low in Jackson, Miss ($1,020). The
average stay is three years.
More people are checking into assisted living to avoid a nursing home, so the
people moving in are "a little frailer than the facilities thought they would
be". There is an average of $220 additional for residents who need help with
at least two activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, eating and
continence.
Two-thirds of assisted living residents pay out of their own pocket. 13.5%
receive SSI. The huge increase in liability insurance is driving up costs.
ANSWER: It is also a commentary about the way we now live our lives, that more
people need to end their days in an assisted living facility, whether they
want to or not. Some have lived their entire lives as a single person,
which I would imagine will only get worst given the trend. Some must go the
assisted living route because even if they have children, the odds are they
are working. Many of us have moved from our birthplace, so the family
structure is fractured, i.e. we no longer have many family members we are
close to anymore, like when I was younger and we were in constant touch with
other family members.
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