With most varieties of senior housing, families looking for a rough idea of costs can turn to a number of sources.
The Metlife Mature Market Institute, for instance, publishes annual studies of nationwide and local averages for assisted living, nursing homes, home care and adult day services. So you can see that a one-bedroom assisted living apartment runs a relatively economical $2,595 a month in Phoenix and averages a daunting $4,034 in Boston.
Genworth Financial provides a similar array of data annually, including handy maps showing local costs.
But when it comes to the continuing care retirement communities (or C.C.R.C’s) I’ve been posting about lately, there’s no comparable repository of current information.
C.C.R.C.’s, remember, allow residents to transfer from independent living apartments to assisted living to a nursing home, all on the same campus or in the same building, as their needs increase (though in the event, they seem as reluctant as other seniors to actually move ). “Yes, being able to take that burden off your kids is wonderful,” reader Alice Payne commented. “But I suspect that the costs are going to prohibit most from taking advantage of such care.”
To which I can only reply, after many phone calls: That all depends. The reason it’s hard to know what a C.C.R.C. costs is that price tags vary enormously, reflecting not only regional costs of living and amenity levels (communities range from modest to superposh) but contract types. Unlike assisted living facilities or nursing homes, C.C.R.C.’s around the country — there are about 1,900, after a period of growth largely squelched by the recession — offer fundamentally different products.
In what’s called a Type A community, for instance, new residents pay an entrance or buy-in fee, plus a monthly fee; in exchange, they’re guaranteed that same monthly rate, although adjusted for inflation, even when they move to higher levels of care. In the classic early C.C.R.C. model, the appeal is that lifetime costs remain predictable. You’re essentially buying a form of long-term care insurance.
Then came Type B communities, where the monthly fees (also inflation-adjusted) rise as you move from independent living to the pricier units. Typically, you’re entitled to free care in assisted living or the nursing home for a specified number of days, after which the higher fees kick in. Entrance and initial monthly fees run somewhat lower, however.
Less common is Type C, where after the entrance fee, you pay as you go, at market prices, for whatever level of care you need.
To muddy the picture further, C.C.R.C.’s have different policies about refunding entrance fees to the resident or his estate if he leaves or dies. And there can be hefty tax deductions, depending on the nature of the contract. And you can select independent living quarters ranging from studios in apartment buildings to freestanding three-bedroom “villas” with decks and gardens. The monthly fees typically include meal plans, utilities, housekeeping, maintenance, transportation and activities.
At the moment, moreover, since seniors are having trouble selling their houses to finance a move, some C.C.R.C.’s are reducing or deferring entrance fees, offering upgrades in their apartments, discounting monthly charges, or offering free appraisals and house-staging services.
Small wonder no one has attempted to compile this welter of confusing information in a publication or chart. The best I can do for Ms. Payne and other readers wondering about prices is to give a few examples from C.C.R.C.’s around the country — and advise that if you’re considering this option for your parents or yourself, you’ll want to visit several communities, amass a lot of information, and then sit down with an accountant and a lawyer.
Like more than 80 percent of C.C.R.C.’s, these examples are all non-profits. I’ve included just some of the variety of apartments and villas, and rounded off their prices. Note that these are prices for a single person; communities charge higher entrance fees, or monthly fees, or both for additional residents in an apartment.
(Mary’s Woods, by the way, is the community that Greg and Evelyn Hadley, featured in a recent post, happily call home.)
Independent Living
The prices for assisted living and skilled nursing will remain the same, adjusted for inflation.
Type A contract
Independent Living
Independent Living
Type A contract
Independent Living
Prices for “assistance in living,” personal care provided in the resident’s apartment, and skilled nursing will remain the same, adjusted for inflation.
Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions” (Grand Central).
The Metlife Mature Market Institute, for instance, publishes annual studies of nationwide and local averages for assisted living, nursing homes, home care and adult day services. So you can see that a one-bedroom assisted living apartment runs a relatively economical $2,595 a month in Phoenix and averages a daunting $4,034 in Boston.
Genworth Financial provides a similar array of data annually, including handy maps showing local costs.
But when it comes to the continuing care retirement communities (or C.C.R.C’s) I’ve been posting about lately, there’s no comparable repository of current information.
C.C.R.C.’s, remember, allow residents to transfer from independent living apartments to assisted living to a nursing home, all on the same campus or in the same building, as their needs increase (though in the event, they seem as reluctant as other seniors to actually move ). “Yes, being able to take that burden off your kids is wonderful,” reader Alice Payne commented. “But I suspect that the costs are going to prohibit most from taking advantage of such care.”
To which I can only reply, after many phone calls: That all depends. The reason it’s hard to know what a C.C.R.C. costs is that price tags vary enormously, reflecting not only regional costs of living and amenity levels (communities range from modest to superposh) but contract types. Unlike assisted living facilities or nursing homes, C.C.R.C.’s around the country — there are about 1,900, after a period of growth largely squelched by the recession — offer fundamentally different products.
In what’s called a Type A community, for instance, new residents pay an entrance or buy-in fee, plus a monthly fee; in exchange, they’re guaranteed that same monthly rate, although adjusted for inflation, even when they move to higher levels of care. In the classic early C.C.R.C. model, the appeal is that lifetime costs remain predictable. You’re essentially buying a form of long-term care insurance.
Then came Type B communities, where the monthly fees (also inflation-adjusted) rise as you move from independent living to the pricier units. Typically, you’re entitled to free care in assisted living or the nursing home for a specified number of days, after which the higher fees kick in. Entrance and initial monthly fees run somewhat lower, however.
Less common is Type C, where after the entrance fee, you pay as you go, at market prices, for whatever level of care you need.
To muddy the picture further, C.C.R.C.’s have different policies about refunding entrance fees to the resident or his estate if he leaves or dies. And there can be hefty tax deductions, depending on the nature of the contract. And you can select independent living quarters ranging from studios in apartment buildings to freestanding three-bedroom “villas” with decks and gardens. The monthly fees typically include meal plans, utilities, housekeeping, maintenance, transportation and activities.
At the moment, moreover, since seniors are having trouble selling their houses to finance a move, some C.C.R.C.’s are reducing or deferring entrance fees, offering upgrades in their apartments, discounting monthly charges, or offering free appraisals and house-staging services.
Small wonder no one has attempted to compile this welter of confusing information in a publication or chart. The best I can do for Ms. Payne and other readers wondering about prices is to give a few examples from C.C.R.C.’s around the country — and advise that if you’re considering this option for your parents or yourself, you’ll want to visit several communities, amass a lot of information, and then sit down with an accountant and a lawyer.
Like more than 80 percent of C.C.R.C.’s, these examples are all non-profits. I’ve included just some of the variety of apartments and villas, and rounded off their prices. Note that these are prices for a single person; communities charge higher entrance fees, or monthly fees, or both for additional residents in an apartment.
(Mary’s Woods, by the way, is the community that Greg and Evelyn Hadley, featured in a recent post, happily call home.)
Granite Farms Estates; Media, Pa.
Type A contractIndependent Living
- Studio: Entrance fee, $97,000. Monthly fee, $1,800.
- One bedroom: Entrance fee, $153,000. Monthly fee, $2,000.
- Two bedrooms, one bath: Entrance fee, $204,000. Monthly fee, $2,300.
The prices for assisted living and skilled nursing will remain the same, adjusted for inflation.
Friendship Village West; Chesterfield, Mo.
Type A contract
Independent Living
- Studio: Entrance fee, $43,000. Monthly fee, $1,400.
- One bedroom: Entrance fee, $108,000. Monthly fee, $2,000.
- Two- or three-bedroom villa: Entrance fee, $262,000 to $306,000. Monthly fee, $2,600 to $2,900.
Mary’s Woods; Lake Oswego, Ore.
Type B contractIndependent Living
- One bedroom: Entrance fee, $210,000. Monthly fee, $1,900.
- Two bedrooms, two baths: Entrance fee $315,000. Monthly fee, $2,700
- Three-bedroom villa: Entrance fee, $496,000. Monthly fee, $4,700.
- One-bedroom apartment: $160 to $248 a day, depending on care needed.
Abbey Delray South; Delray Beach, Fla.
Type A contract
Independent Living
- Studio: Entrance fee, $88,000. Monthly fee, $1,800.
- One bedroom: Entrance fee, $136,000. Monthly fee, $2,200.
- Two bedrooms, two baths: Entrance fee: $168,000. Monthly fee, $2,395.
Prices for “assistance in living,” personal care provided in the resident’s apartment, and skilled nursing will remain the same, adjusted for inflation.
Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions” (Grand Central).
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