Guides to paying for and choosing senior care
Longer guides to the three decisions families face first: what care costs, how to choose between communities, and which programs pay for any of it.
3 guides
Most families arrive at senior care with the same three questions, usually in a hurry and often after something has already gone wrong. What does this cost. How do we tell one community from another. Who pays for it.
These guides are longer than the articles in the resource library because the answers are genuinely complicated, and because the shortcuts are where families get hurt. Every figure is attributed to the organisation that published it, with the year attached, since all of these numbers move.
What these guides cover
What care actually costs
National medians by care setting, how far a state can sit from that median, and the care-level charges and add-ons that separate the quoted rate from the monthly bill.
Choosing between communities
Narrowing a list, what a second unannounced visit shows that a tour does not, and the parts of a residency agreement that decide what happens when needs change or money runs out.
Who pays for what
The line between Medicare's short-term medical coverage and the custodial care it never pays for, how Medicaid eligibility and the look-back work, and what VA pension with Aid and Attendance is worth.
Latest
The Real Cost of Senior Living
What each kind of care costs against the most recent national medians, why the published figure is rarely the bill, and the three numbers to ask any community for.
How to Choose a Senior Living Community
Working from a long list to a decision: matching the care level to the next 18 months rather than today, what two visits reveal that one cannot, and the contract clauses that matter.
Medicaid, Medicare, and VA Benefits for Senior Care
Which program pays for what, where families most often assume coverage that is not there, and the eligibility rules worth knowing well before you need them.
Common questions
What is the difference between these guides and the resource articles?
The guides cover the three decisions that come up first and are long enough to answer them properly, with each figure attributed to its source. The resource library is broader and shorter: specific questions, products and local topics.
How current are the figures in these guides?
Each figure names the organisation that published it and the year it applies to, so you can see at a glance whether it has been overtaken. Cost figures come from the most recent CareScout Cost of Care Survey, benefit amounts from VA and Medicare directly, and these change annually.
Where should I start if a parent needs care soon?
Start with the cost guide to set expectations, then the benefits guide, because eligibility rules such as the Medicaid look-back reward planning ahead and punish leaving it late. Choosing a specific community is the easiest of the three to do quickly.
Looking for something broader? The resource library covers care types, costs and paying for care.