Creating a financially stable plan for extended or long-term care needs means understanding the associated costs for care. Everyone, especially after what we all saw during the COVID pandemic, decidedly would prefer to age at home. According to industry information available at www.McKnights.com, increases in salaries from the executive level to all other levels of the workforce are on the rise. Most providers are willing to pay significantly higher salaries than just a year ago. That’s good news. We trust these employees with the well-being of our loved ones and, traditionally, they have not been rightfully compensated. On the other hand, that translates into an increase in the cost of care and likely continued increases for some time to come. This requires a review for those who have a plan. It becomes a real issue for those without a plan. This informative is instructional but also sobering. All of us need an extended or long-term care financially stable plan.
- Excerpt from "How Not to Tear Your Family Apart"
One insurer included a follow-up study focused on the drivers of
the cost of care.27 This research, done prior to the full impact of the
pandemic, certainly agrees with what we witnessed during COVID-19.
The following factors continue to contribute to increasing costs:
• Labor shortages
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) costs
• Regulatory changes (including updated CDC guidelines)
• Employee recruitment and retention challenges
• Wage pressures
• Supply and demand
This is instructional but also very sobering information. It has the
same effect on the Jones family.
They are screen-sharing on their Zoom call and reviewing
costs by manipulating the cost-of-care study tool. After a
lively discussion about the drivers of the cost of care, the
Jones family lapses into a pensive silence.
27 “Drivers of the Cost of Care,” Genworth, accessed May 10, 2021,
https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care/costof-
care-trends-and-insights.html
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