Need Something Else to Worry About? Try Long-Term Care in Yorktown Heights, New York

The statistics aren’t encouraging. About three quarters of Americans are likely to need long-term care, but very few are ready for the costs.

A recent article from Think Advisor paints a dismal picture of Americans who are just not preparing themselves for the inevitable facts of aging. The article, “Now You Can Add Long-Term Care to Death and Taxes,” says this may be one of the biggest disconnects in the USA: the gap between how many Americans will need long-term care versus what people actually think they’ll need.

Just 46% think they’ll need it, according to a new study that surveyed 2,000 people to see how prepared Americans were for the realities of long-term care.

Another misconception is the out-of-pocket cost of long-term care. The study found that the actual out-of-pocket cost of long-term care is more than $47,000.  However, many Americans think it’s about half that, $25,350.

In addition, $47,000 is the low end of the scale for the yearly cost per stay. While some assisted living costs may be $45,000, semi-private nursing homes are closer to $85,000. Private nursing home care is $97,455, according to the study, which was conducted by Digital Third Coast. The study was made up of 57.7% males and 42.3% females, while 56% were age 35 and younger, 33% were 36 to 55 years old and 11% were 56 and older.

Can you believe that 64% have nothing saved for long-term care, and 67% can’t contribute to a parent’s long-term care? The study found that Americans intend to save about $657 per month for long-term care.

Another issue between reality and perception, is the age that people think they’ll be when they need any sort of long-term care. Most study participants say it’s 79 years old.  However, it’s actually 73 years old, according to the study. Women will require long-term care on average for 3.7 years, and men will need it for about 2.2 years.

People in our country also have worries about putting relatives in long-term care, the study found. For example, 73% are concerned about physical/sexual mental abuse. About 41% said the cost was more than anticipated, and 48% hadn’t expected to put loved ones in long-term care. Only 33% actually have had discussions with family about when care is necessary.

One thing we do know is what we want when it comes to long-term care. We want quality of care, but we also want low costs, and we want facilities that are not too far from family members.

We just don’t want to think about how that’s going to be paid for.

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