Planning for assisted living costs should be at the top of your aging parent’s mind, or your mind.

Planning for assisted living costs should be at the top of your aging parent’s mind, or your mind. Because nursing home, assisted living, and adult day care costs are constantly increasing. As stated in the MetLife Mature Market Institute’s annual survey the cost of these types of long-term care have increased by 5.6 percent since the previous year. A private room in a nursing home averaged $87,000 a year and adult day programs cost $42,000 a year.

Assisted living costs increase as your parents require additional care. Therefore, facilities can charge hundreds more a month for bathing, incontinence care, and managing medications. Consequently, if you do not prepare, your savings will be depleted. Therefore proper asset protection planning is a must. Furthermore, MetLife’s survey noted that many seniors have little financial reserves to plan for adequate care and only seven million people 65 and older have a policy for long-term care insurance.

Consequently, you and your parents should discuss what kind of care they want and need as they age. These discussions should include an experienced elder care attorney so that government benefits and tailored plans can be carried out successfully. The planning can be complex, so trusting in a knowledgeable elder care attorney to help protect savings, establish proper trusts, and carry out your health care wishes is critical.

Elder Law Office of David Wingate assists seniors and their families to plan for long-term care needs, estate planning and asset protection, and preservation of Medicaid and government benefits.