Ballpark idea of costs/finances needed to move to continuing care community?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Can anyone give a ballpark estimate of what a couple would need financially (in terms of both income and assets) in order to get into a decent-or-better continuing care retirement community in Montgomery County (or nearby), the kind where they will not kick you out as you start needing more care even if you eventually run out of money? (And does what they ask for vary by age? If so, we're talking early/mid-70s.)
Also, is it true that they will not accept you if your health isn't good enough? If so, how do they assess that and what kinds of things would cause them to turn you away? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
|
Neither of those sites answer OP's question.
They are sales lead pages. ~$100k/yr if you need people to run part of your day. |
Anonymous
| I don't know OP, but I have heard people say you need to be able to walk yourself into the place. If you are already in a wheelchair (or maybe even using a rollator?) they won't take you. |
Anonymous
| It depends on if you go to a low-income sliding fee one or a fancy one. |
Anonymous
| This is going to vary drastically. There's luxury, and there are dumps. |
Anonymous
Not the OP but would you be able to wager guesses ranging from luxury to dumps? |
Anonymous
|
My dad was in another Erickson CCRC that looks identical to the link posted by the PP above. Those numbers sound right although there are lots of add-ons, such as the dining packages. He got in with mild dementia, but it was a little iffy - they really don't want to put people who need a lot of care in the independent living side. Also a lot of the amenities (clubs, trips, etc) are geared toward people who are still active and engaged.
As his dementia worsened, we hired aides via Erickson to help with getting around the facilities and even dressing. Pricey but well worth it. He later went to memory care and eventually skilled nursing, all in the same campus. The latter were more like $10k/month. |
Anonymous
I'm also interested in responses here. Also interested if anyone has insights on how to estimate for the future. My ILs drastically underestimated what they would need. Think they assumed that they would always be able to share a room as their parents did, but now is clear that MiL will not do that and FiL needs round the clock attention though not care. If at all possible, I don't want to put my kids in that situation as we will soon be with DH's parents. |
Anonymous
| Moving to a low cost area helps a lot |
Anonymous
Yes. Asking for the cost of "decent or better." Not dumps but doesn't have to be luxury either. |
Anonymous
|
There are many different financial plans. My parents went into an Erickson facility—high buy in, but lower monthly (still pretty high, but less than other plans), and 90% refunded.
There are others with no buy in and it’s just a monthly rent. So a one bedroom, might be $2,000-3,000 for a high buy in, it will be $4,000-5,000 for monthly only. Then other places have several different plans you can choose from. So you might have a much lower buy in, but only get 30% back. In my experience they only place that had a health requirement was a place that had a one price guarantee. Meaning regardless of the level of service you need, it’s the same price. So you’ll pay more in IL, but if you move up to AL or MC, you will still pay the same amount. They need you to be healthy so you can be in IL as long as possible before you move up to higher levels of care. |
Anonymous
|
It's so complicated. They require a financial application as well as a health evaluation. And most have various buy-in structures as well as monthly fee schedules as well as dining plans. I don't know of any resource that allows apples-to-apples price comparisons.
For my mom, who is now at Vinson Hall in McLean, she had to have a physical with her primary care physician as well as a mental evaluation at the facility (which was not that in-depth). She was using a rollator at the time (has since had spinal surgery so doesn't need it all the time), and the front lobby is like a rollator parking lot, so that doesn't seem to be a disqualifying factor -- I think it's more an issue of whether you're going to be safe living in your apartment by yourself or with a spouse. Do you have a good handle on your parents' finances, including all assets and all liabilities? Do your parents have long-term care insurance? It would be ideal to start getting that information together now (as well as power of attorney/healthcare proxy) because it only gets more complicated as time goes on. If either parent has a military officer or civil service background, I highly recommend looking at Vinson Hall in McLean and Knollwodd in NWDC close to MoCo. Generally, I'd also look at non-profits over for-profits. |
Anonymous
|
At the end of the day these places are businesses. If you have a limited amount of money it likely isn’t the best idea to spend money in advance of truly needing care.
The families I know who are big spenders love continuing care facilities and think it’s the best financial plan. But someone who is astute financially won’t spend hundreds of thousands financially in advance of really needing care. |