My 95 year old mom lives in an assisted living facility. She’s in a 1 bed, 2 bath apt with a kitchen and living area. Her utilities and meals are paid for. Her rent is over $6k a month, and she’s still fairly independent. She’s in her right mind–no dementia at all. She can bathe and dress herself, get herself to the bathroom, get herself into and out of bed, can walk without assistance and handles her own meds.
Once she needs assistance with any of the above, her rent goes up by $1k a month.
She just got a complete health workup, and they gave her a life prediction of 10 years. (Her mom and aunts/uncles all lived to be at least 104.)
Luckily, my dad left her with a sizable amount of money and income from SS and some annuities, but if she does live 10 more years, those annuities will be depleted and so will her savings. She will not be able to afford to stay; SS will never cover her rent.
It keeps me up at night. We are already paying for half my MIL’s assisted living. How will we ever afford to help both?
It’s terrible to find yourself hoping your mom doesn’t outlive her money.
States are different. I have a loved one who lives in a similar situation. A one bedroom apartment with only retired people but the rent is capped at ⅓ monthly income (savings don’t count). We can treat our elderly with dignity. We just have to be willing to pay for it and vote for politicians who are willing to enact it. Children, elderly, people with special needs, etc. it frustrates me to no end how we’ll just throw them aside so our taxes can be just a little bit lower.
