£600k for 10 years - is that reasonable planning for a home?

My friend’s husband who died just before Christmas was in a care home after having a stroke. It cost £7000 a month and wiped out most of their savings.

My DH has had 2 back surgeries, followed by 2 strokes. I'm in very good health. Over the past 5 years, after his business partner embezzled from their company, he'd transferred everything into my name. I'm currently putting all of my assets, including a small inheritance from my mom, into an Asset Protection Trust. Should he need to be in a home in the future, my assets are secure for myself and later my children, should I also need a home. We're in the US, on Medicare. Medicaid is health care for the indigent. We've both had family in nursing homes, his grandmother on Medicaid and my mother on private pay--both were taken care of equally. In speaking with the nursing home staff, they are prohibited from knowing or treating those on Medicaid differently than those on private pay.

A friend is in a care home - not nursing - and it costs £100k a year. She will be out of money in 4 years.

Sorry to hear that Imarocker.What will happen after 4 years?

So I wonder if there are figures available from the care sector about average monies paid by the average care home resident if self funding? Does anyone know?

Crazy money - it's important that staff are paid well but they are not that's the thing. My own mother was a care worker in a residential home as was my mother in law.

I'm sure it depends on the kind of care a person needs.
Some is completely funded, whilst other situations mean that people need to self fund.

It's very complicated.

MissAdventure is right. If you have significant ongoing nursing care needs which meet the Continuing Healthcare criteria, the NHS would fully fund your care. Assuming you don’t meet those criteria you are expecting to fund yourself until you have assets totalling no more than £23,000.

Bear in mind that it’s unlikely that you will need 10 years residential or nursing home care though, the preferred model is to be supported at home for as long as possible. According to the ONS:
‘The proportion of the usual resident population aged 65 years and over living in a care home decreased from 3.2% in 2011 to 2.5% in 2021. Within the 65 years and over care home population, 56.4% of residents were aged 85 years and over; this is a decrease from 2011, where 59.2% of residents were aged 85 years and over.9 Oct 2023’

Do not forget that some of the care costs can be met from the person in care's income, plus Attendance Allowance.

MissAdventure is right. If you have significant ongoing nursing care needs which meet the Continuing Healthcare criteria, the NHS would fully fund your care

Meeting those criteria is nigh on impossible.
A family member with dementia, incontinent and unable to move or do anything on their own did not meet the criteria. The cost for a nursing home was £1,600 per week and the family was told that as a higher level of care was needed imminently, the person would need 24 hour care and the cost per week would double.
Another person we know who has reached that stage is being cared for at home but trying to get much help is proving very difficult indeed.

Of course, not everyone will need residential nursing or care.

Crocus5

Sorry to hear that Imarocker.What will happen after 4 years?

The state then take over the bill, is what I understand from my friend, who's mum was in a dual care home.

Birthto110

Crazy money - it's important that staff are paid well but they are not that's the thing. My own mother was a care worker in a residential home as was my mother in law.

The carers are not paid enough.
However, some owners have become rather wealthy and many care/nursing homes are owned by global investment firms.
That includes children's care homes.

www.carehomeprofessional.com/barchester-healthcare-profits-rise/#:~:text=Barchester%20Healthcare%2C%20co%2Downed%20by,increase%20in%20pre%2Dtax%20profits.
www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/23/england-childrens-care-homes-backed-by-private-equity-firms-double-over-five-years

Birthto110 I suppose your numbers are as good as any others.

We are hoping to pay for in-home help, until we may need more skilled care, then residential care home which we've saved for.

I would make arrangements to go to Switzerland rather than fund the lifestyle of hedge fund managers and billionaires who pay their care home staff the lowest wages they can get away with.

Callistemon21

^MissAdventure is right. If you have significant ongoing nursing care needs which meet the Continuing Healthcare criteria, the NHS would fully fund your care^

Meeting those criteria is nigh on impossible.
A family member with dementia, incontinent and unable to move or do anything on their own did not meet the criteria. The cost for a nursing home was £1,600 per week and the family was told that as a higher level of care was needed imminently, the person would need 24 hour care and the cost per week would double.
Another person we know who has reached that stage is being cared for at home but trying to get much help is proving very difficult indeed.

Of course, not everyone will need residential nursing or care.

The bar is certainly set very high, I looked it up, and 104,000 people in England were granted CHC funding in a year. It covers complex nursing care at home as well as people in care homes.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06128/#:~:text=In%202021%2F22%2C%20104%2C400%20people,whose%20situation%20is%20deteriorating%20quickly.

those in the know, ie HCPs are far more likely to succeed i n applying for CHC, where it is relevant i mean.
i think it is worth considering paying an independent expert, speciality nurse to fill the forms.
some solicitors might do this also.

When MiL went into a home just before Covid it was £1495 per week, we were told that if the money ran out she would have to be found a place in a Local Authority home, we put her house on the market but she died before it sold.
I assume that you have to start looking a couple of months before the money runs out and hope that a decent home can be found.

My Mum was in a dementia care home from 2000 for seven years and then a nursing care home for nearly three years until her death, the cost averaged out about £75k pa, I imagine it’s more now. She was self funding.

I'm sure there are changes afoot with the dementia status, in terms of funding.

And so there should be!

The average length of stay in a care home is two years so, while there will be the occasional person who is there much longer, they will be the exception not the rule.

Callistemon21

I would make arrangements to go to Switzerland rather than fund the lifestyle of hedge fund managers and billionaires who pay their care home staff the lowest wages they can get away with.

Me too. In the early 70s I did some temping and worked for a few weeks doing admin for a senior doctor. He was working his notice and told me all about the care home he was about to open. He described it as a licence to print money and planned to retire before he turned 50. He was very upfront about the fact that he wouldn’t have to pay his staff much.

M0nica

The average length of stay in a care home is two years so, while there will be the occasional person who is there much longer, they will be the exception not the rule.

Doesnt that mean that half the people will be there longer, and half less?

Casdon

Callistemon21

MissAdventure is right. If you have significant ongoing nursing care needs which meet the Continuing Healthcare criteria, the NHS would fully fund your care

Meeting those criteria is nigh on impossible.
A family member with dementia, incontinent and unable to move or do anything on their own did not meet the criteria. The cost for a nursing home was £1,600 per week and the family was told that as a higher level of care was needed imminently, the person would need 24 hour care and the cost per week would double.
Another person we know who has reached that stage is being cared for at home but trying to get much help is proving very difficult indeed.

Of course, not everyone will need residential nursing or care.

The bar is certainly set very high, I looked it up, and 104,000 people in England were granted CHC funding in a year. It covers complex nursing care at home as well as people in care homes.
commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06128/#:~:text=In%202021%2F22%2C%20104%2C400%20people,whose%20situation%20is%20deteriorating%20quickly.

You’re not wrong.
For some years I looked out on 3 cars that collectively cost
£360,0000. I know how much they cost because my son in law sold them to the family.
The family owned a care home.

Seems people need to save as much as they possibly can, doesn't it? IMO end of life care is why people save as much as possible - good quality care for how ever long (a few months up to many many years).