Northwestern: LTC Costs Vary Widely

By Trevor Thomas

February 19, 2009 at 07:00 PM

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Long term care is much more expensive in markets such as Los Angeles, New York and Hawaii than in other markets, according to Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company.

Northwestern LTC, part of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, has based that observation on an analysis of data from about 7,000 home health care providers, assisted-living facilities and nursing homes.

Hourly wages of home health aides from certified agencies showed the biggest differences, Northwestern LTC says.

Average hourly charges for certified aides ranged from $87.50 in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-San Francisco area of California down to $13 in Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

The national average rate for certified aides was $26 per hour.

The cost of nursing home care ranged from $118 a day for a private room in a Medicare-certified nursing home in Lafayette, La., to $590 a day for a day in a private room in New York City.

The national average was $210 per day, or $76,650 per year.

The cost of a private room in an assisted-living facility ranged from $1,901 in North Dakota to $4,406 in Hawaii, with a national average of $3,443.

Earlier this year, Genworth Financial Inc., Richmond, Va., released its own LTC cost report and found that the national average cost of a private nursing home room is $209 per day.

A unit of MetLife Inc., New York, reported a national average rate of $212 per day.

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