Carnegie Mellon - Self Funding

For most employees, the important long-term care cost to focus on is not what care costs currently, but what will care cost in fifteen years? In thirty years? If we were to assume a 5% annual cost increase, long-term care in metropolitan areas in thirty years could cost $345,000 annually - or more. Now here is the wild card. Currently the "average" length of care in long-term care situations is less than three years. And while this may be an average, certainly some conditions, such as dementia, may require care for ten years, or more. A broken hip may require care for three months, or less. In statistics which can be found on the Alzheimer's Association web site (www.alz.org) it is reported that nearly 50% of people over age 85 have some form of dementia.

Now it might be convenient to think, at age 55, that I do not care what happens to me at age 85. But our reality changes as we age, and so do our perceptions of acceptability. A living situation which intellectually may seem unfathomable today could be quite acceptable tomorrow. Most of us, when the chips are down, have a tenacious ability to hang on. The point is that even if you do not care, your family will. Care giving for Alzheimer's patients is a 36 hour day.