Annual Long-Term Care Survey Finds Steep Rise in Assisted Living Facility Costs Amid Pandemic

All long-term care costs rose sharply in 2020, but assisted living facility costs increased the most, according to Genworth’s latest annual Cost of Care Survey. The across-the-board rises were due in part to increased costs brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the past year, assisted living facility rates grew 6.15 percent for a median cost of
$51,600 per year or $4,300 per month. Genworth also reports that the median annual cost of home health aides rose 4.35 percent to $54,912, while the median cost of a private nursing home room rose 3.57 percent to $105,850 and the median cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home is now $93,075, up 3.24 percent from 2019.
In response to this year’s price increases, Genworth conducted a follow-up study to understand how COVID-19 is impacting the cost of care. Genworth found that labor shortages, personal protective equipment costs, regulatory changes, employee recruitment and retention, wage pressure, and supply and demand were contributing to rate rises. The only care setting where costs did not increase was adult day care, which provides support services in a protective setting during part of the day. Costs for adult day care actually fell from $75 to $74 a day, a 1.33 percent decrease, perhaps because many adult day care sites have been forced to close due to the pandemic.
Alaska continues to be the costliest state for nursing home care by far, with the median annual cost of a private nursing home room totaling $436,540. Missouri was the most affordable state, with a median annual cost of a private room of $68,985. In California, the median cost of a private room is $137,244 and the cost of a semi-private room is $110,964.
The 2020 survey, conducted by CareScout for the seventeenth straight year, was based on responses from 14,326 nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day health facilities and home care providers. Survey respondents were contacted by phone during July and August 2020.
As the survey indicates, long-term care is growing ever more expensive. Contact our office to learn how you can protect some or all of your family’s assets from being devastated by these rising costs.
For more information, please contact the Law Office of Sean D. Ethington at (661)295-4604 or visit our website at www.ElderLawSite.com.