Families usually discover care costs one shocking invoice at a time. See the realistic numbers up front: monthly, yearly, and over a typical stay — then the gap between the cost and your loved one's income, which is the number a funding plan has to solve.
VA benefits · long-term care insurance · home equity · life insurance · Medicaid planning
Sources & honesty. Figures are published U.S. national median ranges (2024–2025 cost-of-care surveys), rounded: home care ~$32–38/hr · adult day ~$2,000–2,400/mo · assisted living ~$5,500–6,500/mo · memory care ~$6,800–8,200/mo · nursing home ~$9,000–11,000/mo (semi-private to private). Local prices vary widely — urban Northeast often runs 10–30% higher. Hospice care itself is covered by Medicare; the figure shown is typical room & board when hospice happens in a facility. This is planning guidance, not a quote or financial advice.
The monthly cost sets the size of the problem. The gap — cost minus their income — is what your funding plan must produce. The duration is the wildcard: the typical long-term-care need runs about 2–3 years, but memory care often runs longer, which is why the order you spend sources in matters so much.
VA Aid & Attendance (roughly $1,500–$2,700/month for wartime veterans and surviving spouses), long-term care insurance, home equity, selling an unaffordable life insurance policy, and — planned early, not stumbled into — Medicaid. The free Care Funding Navigator ranks all of them for your family's exact situation.