The cost of long-term care continues its upward climb, according to the 2011 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs. Private room nursing home rates rose 4.4 percent to $87,235 a year or $239 a day, while assisted living facility costs jumped 5.6 percent on average to $41,724 a year or $3,477 a month.
After leveling off last year, the cost of adult day care services went up by 4.5 percent to $70 per day. But the average cost of home health aides and homemaker/companion service rates remained unchanged at $21 and $19 per hour, respectively.
The survey also reports on the cost of a semi-private room in a nursing home, which also increased 4.4 percent to $214 a day, or $78,110 a year. The cost of a semi-private room in an Alzheimer’s wing rose from an average of $75,190 to $81,030 annually.
Once again, the highest rates for a private nursing home room in 2011 were found in Alaska, where the average cost dropped slightly from $687 a day to $655 a day. The lowest rates were found in Louisiana (with the exception of Baton Rouge and the Shreveport area), at and average of $141 a day.
The cost of assisted living was the highest in the Washington, D.C., area, at $5,757 a month and the lowest in Arkansas (except for Little Rock) at $2,156 a month. Average home health care aide services ranged from a high of $34 an hour in Rochester, Minnesota, to $14 and hour in the Shreveport area of Louisana. Adult day care services were highest in Vermont at an average of $148 a day and lowest in the Montgomery, Alabama, area, at $29 a day, a $2 drop from 2010.
For the full 2011 report, including listings of average long-term care costs in selected cities, click here.