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Nursing Home Costs Exceed $90,000 per Year

According to the State of Maine, Department of Health and Human Services, the average cost of a nursing home in Maine is $7,501.00 per month, or $90,000.00 per year. Although we all want to remain at home for as long as possible, i.e. forever, it is estimated that 1 of every 2 of us will spend an average of 2.5 years at a nursing home, that means $225,000.00 for the average stay, less if you're "lucky", more if you're not.

As elder law attorneys we are often asked to help our elderly clients remain and be cared for at home. However, when at-home care is no longer enough, we help our clients locate and pay the cost of a nursing home, or assisted living facility.

There are a number of ways to pay for long-term care and our goal is to help our clients identify and access as many different payor sources as possible. By accessing different payor sources we help our clients use their assets wisely, thereby assuring that they always get the care they need, when they need it and for as long as they need it. And hopefully, by using their assets wisely for their care, they get to leave some, if not all, of their estate to their loved ones.

Most clients have at least some, if not all, of the following possible payor sources to help pay long-term care expenses, either at home or in a nursing home: (1) personal assets; (2) long-term care insurance; (3) a reverse mortgage; (4) Veterans benefits; and (5) the MaineCare long-term care benefit. Medicare does not pay for long-term care.

Each of these payor sources should be considered and investigated carefully. A person may qualify for some, none, or all. We have had families come to us after paying for years at a nursing home only to learn that they qualified for a benefit that would have saved them thousands of dollars if they had applied earlier. The "bottom line" is that you can protect and preserve your assets and get the care you or a loved one needs either at home or in a more formal setting.