by Jay Luxenberg, MD

When talking with a patient or a family member about the costs of long term care, I often want to be able to give them an accurate estimate of the relative costs of adult day care, assisted living, skilled nursing, and any other home and community based options available. I realize that these costs vary widely across the country and even within different areas of California. I find using the iPhone app or the website of Genworth’s long term care Cost of Care estimator the best resource. I recommend it when teaching geriatrics fellows or medical students doing geriatrics electives. Genworth is a long term care insurance company, and they use the information they gather about costs to make these tools very accurate. They are revised annually, and the 2016 costs have just been posted. Take a look here or try downloading the apps – the iPhone one is here. They are free.