Less Costly Options Exist To Afford In-Home Care

While in-home care for elderly parents or other relatives may be a kinder approach than placing them in a nursing facility, it can also be a very pricy proposition.

A recent Caring.com article offers some creative approaches to affording this option.

“In general, pay rates in urban areas are higher than in rural communities, and still higher on the east and west coasts than in the central United States,” according to the article. “Costs also depend on whether you’re looking for homemaker services, defined as ‘hands-off’ care, such as cooking, cleaning, running errands, and general companionship, or home health aide services, which include personal care, such as bathing and dressing. A comprehensive 50-state survey of care costs by MetLife found that as of 2011, average hourly rates for home health aides ranged from $16 to $29 across the country, while rates for homemaker aides without medical training ranged from $13 to $24. These rates do not seem to be changing much over time. According to Genworth’s 2012 data analysis, the median rate for in-home care of $18 to $19 an hour nationwide is rising by only 1.15 percent every five years.”

Among the advice on making this sort of care more affordable are reversible mortgages, pensions for veterans that may have previously gone untapped and making alterations to life insurance policies no longer needed to care for others.

“The way this works is that your loved one sells the policy back to the issuing agency for 50 to 75 percent of its face value, an amount determined based on the amount of the policy, the monthly premiums, and the policy holder’s age and health,” the article stated. “There may be restrictions; some policies can only be cashed in if the policyholder is terminally ill. But many are quite flexible. And if yours isn’t, there are settlement companies that will buy the policy, also at 50 to 75 percent of face value, then pay the premiums until the policyholder’s death, when the company will collect the benefits.

“If the company that issued the policy won’t cash it in, don’t worry. Your loved one may be able to sell the policy for a ‘life settlement’ or ‘senior settlement.’ In this case the settlement company pays the premiums until the policyholder dies, then receives the benefits that would originally have gone to the policy’s original beneficiaries.”