The Cost of Caring

A-C-I Assessment, Cost, and Impact. The three letters you want to think about along the entire aging journey with Mom and Dad. We covered Assessment below, now let's look at Cost.

The cost of caring can be emotional and financial. In this post we'll focus on financial. As I always recommend, do your best with the help of your family to prepare for the worst BEFORE anything happens. Remember all those crazy things we did getting ready for the turn of the century? They weren't needed, but some of us did prepare.

We'll hope Mom and Dad will pass away peacefully at a great age, having lived well and happily, with no healthcare costs incurred, but the possibility of that is getting smaller and smaller.

First, explore the costs of helping Mom and Dad in their home. Someone to mow the grass, do the laundry, light housekeeping. Bonded and insured home care companies are good resources there.

Nest, look at the cost of bringing skilled services into the home. Physical therapists, occupational therapists, registered nurses. Here you want to find a Medicare-certified home healthcare agency. They are highly regulated and held to the highest standards of any home care agency. These costs will be higher, but they can keep Mom and Dad at home longer, and will be less expensive than assisted living.

Finally, visit and find out the costs of independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities in your area, or if you are far from Mom and Dad, the area they are going to live in, maybe near another family member or in their own home town.

Once you have all this information, then you can look at your assessment of where Mom and Dad are mentally, physically, and emotionally, and be prepared to know the costs and how best to meet their healthcare needs each step of the journey.