Assisted living facilities are designed for people who have been living independently but are no longer able to take care of some aspect of their daily lives. There’s even an acronym for it: ADLs, or activities of daily living, namely bathing and getting dressed, remembering to take their medications, eating regularly and attending to personal hygiene.
Assisted living has proven to be a godsend for overall-healthy seniors and their children, who no longer have to worry about mom or dad forgetting to turn off a burner or take daily medications, yet don’t want to feel like they are relegating these vital people to a nursing home, which is, by its nature, better suited for patients who require ongoing medical care.
One of the major concerns of most families considering assisted living for one of its members is its cost. As a rule, assisted living is less expensive than nursing home care, yet paying for it is a challenge to most. It is safe to say that, for the most part, assisted living costs must be covered by the residents’ personal assets. However, there is help available from a number of sources. Among the most popular:
Medicaid will pay for a portion of assisted living costs. However, assisted living facilities are not required to accept Medicaid recipients. Incidentally, Medicare does not cover any costs of assisted living; it only covers the skilled nursing care provided in a nursing home.
Veterans’ benefits pay for some of the costs of assisted living for qualified veterans and their spouses.
HUD Section 8 funding covers part of the costs of assisted living for qualified low-income applicants. Some assisted living facilities do not accept HUD Section 8 recipients.
A reverse mortgage allows a homeowner age 62 or over to take money out of his home equity and use it to help finance an assisted living arrangement.
A “bridge” loan can cover assisted living costs that occur before a resident’s home has sold and cash proceeds received, in the event she needs to move in to the facility before her home is sold.
A “life settlement” converts a resident’s no-longer needed life insurance policy into a lump sum cash payment to help with assisted living expenses.
Long-term care insurance can be purchased at any age — the sooner the cheaper — and some policies will cover assisted living expenses.
Financial planners, insurance agents, lawyers and mortgage bankers can provide more detail and counsel about these financing alternatives, helping to ease the already-stressful transition to assisted living.