While the cost of care among facility-based senior care providers has steadily increased in the past five years, costs for in-home services have trended flat, according to the Genworth 2013 Cost of Care Survey.
The national median hourly rate for licensed homemaker services is up just 1.39% to $18. Licensed home health aide services have a national median rate of $19 an hour, up 2.32% from 2012.
“Home care rates have remained flat in part because of increased competition among agencies and the availability of unskilled labor, and because the companies that provide these types of services do not incur the costs associated with maintaining stand-alone healthcare facilities,” says Genworth.
Both home care services have seen a 1% or less growth in costs in the last five years, according to the Cost of Care survey. The cost of assisted living care, in contrast, has grown 4.26% in the last five years, while a private skilled nursing room costs 4.45% more in 2013 than in 2008.
Among all care costs studied, assisted living care and adult day healthcare had the largest year-over-year growth. A private unit in an assisted living community cost a national median monthly rate of $3,450, up 4.55% from 2012.
The cost of adult day healthcare rose 6.56% from last year to a national median daily rate of $65.
Nursing home care got more expensive, too: the national median daily rate of a private room grew 3.60% to $230, while a semi-private room is now a median $207 a day, up 3.30% from last year.
Americans will pay about $16,400 more each year in nursing home care compared to what they paid in 2008, says Genworth.
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