When people age and hit retirement, they have a choice to make. Do they want to stay in their own home or do they want to more to a retirement facility. There are pros and cons to both choices, and it often comes down to individual preference. For those who do choose to stay at home, they may at some point want or need to take advantage of local home care services.
A vast majority of people — 90% — want to stay in their homes as they age, a process called aging in place, but the number who actually stay in their homes for their entire retirement is smaller. That’s largely because at some point they won’t be able to care for themselves any more, and they may not be able to afford senior in home care. Those who are lucky have a friend or relative who can help with care. In the U.S, there are almost 66 million informal caregivers who help seniors or those who are disabled to take care of themselves.
For those who are not lucky enough to have an informal caregiver, the road to staying in their homes until death is likely to involve some sort of local home care. Such services could include a personal assistant to do tasks such as cooking and cleaning, or they could include someone with medical training to help with things such as taking medications. The problem with such services is that they are expensive, and neither private health insurance nor Medicare cover them. That means people have to pay for such services out of their savings or a long-term care insurance policy if they have one.
Most people do not carry long-term care insurance because of the expense and the feeling that the policy may never be used. However, it’s estimated that by 2050, the number of people using a long-term care service, from in-home care to a nursing home, will more than double. Many life insurance policies also offer long-term care riders that are much more cost-efficient.
While staying at home for retirement is important to most people, retirees have to weigh a number of factors, including cost, safety and the availability of relatives to help. For some, the better choice may be to move to a retirement facility to get the care they need. Ger more information on this topic here.