The Benefits of a Continuum of Care for Seniors
As you explore senior living communities, it may be tempting to consider only those that offer independent living or an active adult lifestyle. After all, if you’re still pretty healthy and active, why even think about a community that offers a continuum of care for seniors until you actually need long-term care?
A continuing care retirement community, also known as a Life Plan Community, offers that active, independent lifestyle you’re looking for now – and a lot of security for your future.
Here are three key benefits of living in a continuing care retirement community:
Smart Financial Planning
The entrance fee for a continuing care retirement community may seem daunting – until you learn how it benefits you long-term. With a Life Care contract, your entrance fee is actually a way of prepaying future health care costs with today’s dollars.
Here’s how it works. The entrance fee you pay upfront ensures you have priority access to the continuum of care offered by the community, and that your monthly expenses will be more predictable. If you ever need a higher level of care, your Life Care benefit can save you thousands of dollars – especially when you consider how much health care costs keep rising.
In addition, your entrance fee is partially refundable, which helps protect your estate, and there are potential tax benefits for fees that quality as prepaid medical expenses.
Tip: If you’re comparing senior living costs, be sure to account for long-term care needs. Ask about priority access to care, and how much monthly fees will increase if you need health services.
Health Care Access
Being part of a continuing care retirement community means you can cross off one of the troubling what-ifs of life: What if something happens to you or your spouse/partner and you need to find care?
Having multiple levels of quality senior health care available right on campus means you don’t have to go far to find the assistance you need. Assisted living, memory support, rehab and skilled nursing are all right there. You’ll know where you’ll receive care and who will provide it. You’ll be close to your loved one and all the friends you’ve made, and you can still be part of the community’s vibrant lifestyle.
Tip: Quality matters. Find out if a community’s health center has a 5-Star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the highest rating available.
Peace of Mind
If you talk to community residents, you’ll often hear they chose to live at a continuing care retirement community as a gift to their loved ones. They didn’t want their children to bear the physical, emotional and financial burdens of providing long-term care, or to have to make health care decisions in a crisis.
By making the choice to move while still healthy and active, they’ve taken their future into their own hands. Residents don’t have to worry about their future, and neither do their loved ones. And that makes it easier to enjoy life right now.
Tip: Whenever possible, bring a family member with you on senior living community tours. That way you can both see what the lifestyle is like, take a closer look at the health center – and feel good about what your future holds.
The Buckingham offers independent living and a full continuum of quality health services for residents and older adults from the Houston area. We’re happy to answer any questions you have about those services, Life Care, or any other aspect of our community.