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November 08, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Nursing home and assisted living rates rose significantly from 2009 to 2010, the MetLife Mature Market Institute (MMMI) reports.
A market survey of long term care costs by MMMI, Westport, Conn., found private room nursing home rates rose 4.6% to $229 per day, or $83,585 per year. Assisted living facilities rose 5.2% on average to $3,293 per month, or $39,516 per year.
In contrast, the 2010 inflation rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was 1.1%.
The increases for elder care come on top of increases of 3.3% from 2008 to 2009 for both nursing home and assisted living costs, says MMMI, a research group sponsored by MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET), New York.
Costs for home health aides and adult day services were unchanged in the past year. Home health aide costs remained at an average price of $21 per hour, while adult day services costs were still $67 per day.
Alaska continued to be the costliest place to stay at a nursing home. Daily rates there averaged $687 a day for a private room and $610 for a semiprivate room, MMMI found. Costs were lowest in Louisiana, outside the Baton Rouge and Shreveport metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), at an average of $138 per day for a private room.
For assisted living, the Washington, D.C. area had the highest average monthly base rate at $5,231, while Arkansas, outside of the Little Rock MSA, had the lowest average monthly rate of $2,073.
The increase in costs of care in nursing homes and assisted living outpaced medical care inflation of about 3%, said Sandra Timmermann, MMMI director.
