How To Pay for Adult Daycare

Choosing from among the many different types of senior care solutions can be a challenge. For many, assisted living or a nursing home provide a higher level of care than their loved one needs. However, it is still important to them that their loved one is in a supervised environment on a day-to-day basis. For those who are able to serve as their loved one's primary caregiver, but who find that they are in need of a solution for their loved one's care while they work, or simply when they are in need of a respite from caregiving, adult daycare can be an ideal solution.

Adult daycares are centers where caregivers plan a range of activities throughout the day to meet the needs of the individuals in their care. They usually operate from Monday Through Friday, and can typically accommodate a wide range of needs. This includes providing social activities, health care when needed, and a safe and supportive environment for their guests.

When is Adult Daycare Right for Your Loved One?

If you can provide for most of your loved one's needs but want a helping hand to watch over them while you work, or when you need a break from providing them with help and support, adult daycare can be a great option. Another key benefit of adult daycare is that it can help with the isolation that many older individuals may experience after retirement, as it gives them a chance to socialize with others in a safe, supportive, and friendly environment.

The Average Costs of Adult Daycare

One of the biggest benefits of adult daycare over other senior living solutions is that it can be a very cost-effective way to get your loved one the care he or she needs. Typically, payment for adult daycare is on a daily or hourly basis. The average cost per day is around $25 to $75, depending on the duration of the individual's stay at the daycare center. The cost typically varies depending on the type of adult daycare service that you choose.

Adult daycares that are designed primarily to meet the social needs of seniors tend to be lower in cost than those that have a larger focus on the individual's health and wellbeing. Typically, the more staff at an adult daycare, the more you can expect to pay. Adult daycares designed to meet specific needs typically require a larger staff complement. For example, you can expect an adult daycare that caters towards seniors with dementia or other memory-related issues to have a staff-to-patient ratio of around one to four. Other factors that can affect the cost of an adult daycare service are whether the daycare is public or private and whether it is run by a non-profit or for-profit organization.

The price of adult daycare also tends to vary depending on the types of services that you choose. Some examples of services include transportation to and from the adult daycare, meals and snacks (which can typically be altered depending on an individual's dietary needs) and additional medical care.

Because you have the option to choose adult daycare on an as-needed basis, the amount you spend can be much lower than the cost of regular care for a loved one through other means. However, there are some options available if you need help paying for adult daycare.

Paying for Adult Daycare

One of the big benefits of adult daycare programs compared to others is that, in many cases, payment is available on a sliding scale. This means that those with a lower income may be able to pay less for adult daycare. However, this is more commonly offered with non-profit adult daycares, so be sure to do your homework to find out if this is possible with the adult daycare that you have chosen.

If you are in need of additional help paying for an adult daycare program, you may want to consider looking into using public benefits to help pay for the overall cost of the daycare.

To qualify for Medicaid, your loved one must have a low income and few assets. Typically, Medicaid will not pay the entire cost of adult daycare services, but it can help with some of the costs.

Another option is to use Veteran's benefits to pay for adult daycare. Adult daycare is included among the health benefits offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs. It is important to note that veterans and their spouses may also be eligible for cash benefits and that these benefits can be used to help pay for some or all of an individual's adult daycare costs, or any other type of care that they require.

If you don't have these options available to you, there may be other ways to pay for adult daycare services. In some instances, long-term care insurance can be used as a means of paying for adult daycare. While this type of insurance is typically used for other situations, such as nursing home or assisted living services, some policies will allow for it to be used for adult daycare. Be sure to examine your policy closely to determine whether this is an option.

However, in many situations, seniors and their families will simply need to find a private means of paying for adult daycare. Common ways to accomplish this include using retirement benefits, Social Security, a reverse home mortgage, or by making use of the cash value of a life insurance policy.

One of the important things to keep in mind is that, overall, adult daycare can be a more affordable solution than residential or in-home care services for seniors. Be sure to assess all options carefully to determine whether adult daycare is the right solution for you and your loved ones.