High cost of aging poses dilemma for many families

July 30--One of most serious dilemmas families face these days is how to deal with the high cost of aging.

The possibility of moving into an assisted living center, and its associated costs, tops the list. Two such centers are currently in Tahlequah.

Go Ye Village and Brookdale Tahlequah Heritage offer residents unique living experiences, but representatives from both advise people to begin planning early.

Even with Medicare, assisted living is expensive, and Go Ye Village Chief of Operations David Williams said Medicare does not pay for care.

Williams said one option Go Ye offers for residents is a life-care package within a Continuum of Care Retirement Community.

"That means we have multiple levels of living," said Williams.

With the life-care package, seniors can move into Go Ye Village before they need to enter assisted living and later go into long-term care if needed for the same cost.

Those who decide to enter Go Ye Village after they already require assisted living care do pay much more.

On average, seniors pay about $3,000 for assisted living care. Williams said in larger cities, that average is about $800 higher.

"Our residents here set their costs by what they choose to live in with their life-care plans," said Williams.

The independent living units range from $1,400 to $2,900, based on the size of the home.

Brookdale Tahlequah Heritage is a smaller facility with a different payment system.

Sales Manager Chasity Young said Heritage has a three-tiered program dependent on the level of care needed by the resident. Heritage also offers residents free housekeeping and meals at no extra charge, and it is pet-friendly.

State Farm Agent Mark Hodson said some may be completely dependent on their incomes to pay for their long-term needs if they do not have long-term care insurance.

"If they do not have anything, they need to spend down their savings, and then once their funds run out, they can apply for assistance," said Hodson. "If they have long-term needs, Medicare will run out."

This may include selling resources like a home. If these resources are not used toward long-term care, a person can be "penalized" for them when he tries to get assistance to pay for his long-term care.

The senior would also be penalized if he gave a resource to a family member within a five-year period before going on assistance.

"I would rarely advise that as an option," said Hodson. "They want to seriously look at that because they are giving up control of their homes."

Another worry people may have when entering into long-term care is they may outlive their savings -- especially because people live much longer now, and life expectancy may continue to grow as time goes on.

"Really, we don't get into that discussion very often; people don't want to talk about that," said Hodson. "But that's like a lot of discussions in life insurance."

Edward Jones Financial Adviser Randy Merciez also said living longer is an issue many retirees do not consider when planning their financial futures.

Merciez said about half of the population is expected to live 90 years or longer.

"The best thing you can do is to plan early," said Merciez. "If you plan properly, you should be able to go."

He also cautioned against relying on Social Security and Medicaid to foot the bills.

"Social Security doesn't give you that much and you pretty much have to be in a desolate position to survive on Medicaid," said Merciez.

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