Is Quality Home Care Affordable?
By jana on Jan 14, 2008 in Long Term Care, Reverse Mortgage, Uncategorized
Eighty-nine percent of Baby Boomers want to live their retirement years at home. This is according to a 2006 study by the nonprofit senior housing provider, Ecumen. Their study was highlighted in a recent article in the Minneapolis-St.Paul Star Tribune. The article points out that “having the right to live in your home and having access to the resources necessary to do so are often two very different issues.” Without the infrastructure, government funding (75% of Medicaid payments go to nursing homes), or enough employees in the industry of home health care, will Boomers get their wish?
Right now there are varying levels of home health care from non-medical types of in home care such as grocery shopping, light cleaning types of positions that are paid for out of private funds (family or Reverse Mortgages) to the full on Medicare-certified skilled home care for medical type situations (which may or may not be covered by Medicare). There are varying degrees between these two, but you get the idea and it is the same old story – we want to spend our retirement at home but we need to find the funds to do it.
Affordability and quality care need to both get better if we want to retire in our homes:
Quality Care:
1. New technology needs to begin to drive costs down. At home monitoring, online medical records, etc. all mean that more can be done by fewer people.
2. The health care industry needs to recognize home health care as a major growth area and begin training their workers for quality care. They also need to look at compensating their employees accordingly. The Star article suggests that home health care workers currently earn $7.50 to $12 per hour when their skill level should put them around $16-$18 per hour.
Affordability:
1. Government needs to shift their funding focus, make their policies easier to understand, and provide provisions for better home health care.
2. MOST IMPORTANTLY! Boomers need to not count on any of this – they need to plan if they want to stay home and this calls for education. Look into things like Long Term Health Care insurance, Reverse Mortgages, understanding your health insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid will also be helpful.
How are you going to ensure your retirement is at home? Let me know your thoughts…
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