Nursing Home Care Tops $85,000 In Most Expensive Markets: Survey
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A survey of nursing home costs commissioned by GE Financials Long Term Care Insurance division, Richmond, Va., shows that a year in a nursing home costs about $85,000 or more in the nations five most expensive areas.
The cost of a year of nursing home care in Alaska, the most expensive area in the country to obtain such care, is $166,700.
Louisiana is the least expensive, with an average annual cost of $35,900, according to the survey.
Evans Research, San Francisco, in May surveyed 2,218 skilled and intermediate care nursing homes in all 50 states, including 10% to 25% of the licensed nursing homes in each of the 74 individual areas surveyed.
The survey evaluated the cost of assistance in a nursing home with the activities of daily living for a person suffering from a debilitation such as Parkinsons disease.
It did not include costs for therapy, rehabilitation or medications.
The national annual average cost of a year in a nursing home is $57,700, which is a 7% increase from GE Financials initial survey, conducted in December 2001. So, the figures jumped a little less than 5% a year, says Carl Dombek, public relations manager, GE Financial.
The survey also revealed that costs vary widely, from a low of $69 per day at one nursing home in Oklahoma to a high of $720 per day at a facility in Alaska.
