RICHMOND, Va. – Long-term care costs in Rhode Island are higher than they are nationally, according to Genworth Financial’s 2011 Cost of Care Survey, released today.
In Rhode Island, the annual cost of assisted-care living is $50,550, compared with $39,135 nationally.
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Nationally, assisted-care costs have risen at the rate of 6 percent annually over the past six years. In Rhode Island, however, the costs have risen 4.5 percent per year during that same time period.
The median annual rate for the costs of a private nursing home room in Rhode Island is $105,667 per year, compared with the national rate of $77,745 per year.
The cost of a private nursing home in Rhode Island has risen 5.5 percent annually over the past six years, compared with 4.4 percent nationally.
The median hourly rate to receive care in the home, the preferred long-term care setting, is $23.25 an hour in Rhode Island for home health aide services, compared with the $19 median hour rate nationally.
The findings were announced in the 8th annual Cost of Care Survey published by Genworth. Nationally, the report found that home costs have held steady, while nursing home costs and assisted living costs have climbed.
“Understanding local care giving expenses is an essential first step for families faced with rising care costs,” said Buck Stinson, president, U.S. Life Insurance Products at Genworth. “Genworth’s Cost of Care Survey arms consumers with the knowledge to have informed conversations, whether they are speaking with a family member, a care provider or financial professional, about how they might realistically pay for care.”
This Genworth study comes out every year around this time, and it’s always an issue for nursing homes. Genworth is marketing long term care insurance, by warning consumers about how expensive long term care is. This is all well and good — long term care insurance is a good investment. But the study comes out at the same time as the General Assembly is working on the state budget, and looking to cut Medicaid funding. The study gives rise to the misperception that nursing homes are being richly reimbursed for the care they provide to elderly Medicaid recipients. (Some two thirds of the people receiving care in nursing homes are Medicaid recipients.) This is hardly the case.
The Genworth study identifies the amount that is charged to people who pay for nursing home care(and assisted living, etc) OUT OF POCKET. Very little nursing home care is paid for that way. In fact, the amount charged to patients who can pay privately is often a good indication of whether or not a state’s Medicaid payment amount is adequate. Nursing homes must make up shortfalls in Medicaid funding through other revenue sources, including the amounts charged to privately paying patients. Long term care experts know that high private pay rates generally correllate with low Medicaid payments. Rhode Island’s nursing homes are perilously short on revenues. Of the New England states, only Vermont pays less for Medicaid covered nursing home stays. And this year’s R.I. budget proposes to take another 5% from their rates. Very troubling