Survey: Long-term care costs continue to rise

The cost for in-home healthcare has risen just 1.7 percent a year over the past five years, compared to 6.7 percent for assisted living facilities and 4.5 percent for a private room in a nursing home, according to a new survey.

Genworth's 2010 Cost of Care Survey found that rates charged by home care providers for "non-skilled" services haven't experienced significant growth over the past five years. The national hourly private pay median rate charged by a licensed home health agency for a home health aide was $17.50 in 2005, while the 2010 hourly rate is $19.

Home care rates have remained in check partly due to increased competition among agencies, the availability of unskilled labor and the absence of costs associated with maintaining stand-alone healthcare facilities, said Buck Stinson, president of U.S. Life Insurance Products at Genworth.

"Long-term care is not just about nursing homes anymore," said Stinson. "Care options have expanded dramatically over the past several years to include a far greater choice of settings that reflect the ways in which individuals prefer to receive care."

According to the survey, in 2005 the median annual rate for a private nursing home room was $60,225, compared with $75,190 in 2010. This means Americans can expect to pay approximately $14,965 more per year today for a nursing home than they had to pay in 2005.

Stinson said the survey's findings are important given that a majority of Americans say they wish to receive care in the home. According to another Genworth survey conducted earlier this year, when asked to identify the setting most preferred to receive long-term care, 78 percent chose the home, 18 percent chose assisted living, and only 2 percent selected a nursing home.

The survey also revealed that Alaska, Minnesota and Rhode Island are the most expensive states for home care, at a median rate of $25 per hour for a home health aide provided by a state-licensed agency. The most affordable states are Alabama and West Virginia, at a median rate of $15 per hour.

Genworth's 2010 Cost of Care Survey was conducted January through March and covers nearly 13,000 long-term care providers in 436 regions nationwide. CareScout, acquired by Genworth in June 2008, has conducted the survey since 2004.