Staff Reports
The CareScout (Genworth) 2025 Cost of Care Survey landed this year like a bucket of cold water for anyone who assumes old age comes cheap. The headline: nursing home and assisted‑living prices are still sky‑high even though the pace of increases eased a bit in 2025. At the same time, AARP’s analysis warns that costs have jumped so fast since 2019 that middle‑income families are being squeezed into impossible choices. It’s bad news dressed up in polite data — and someone has to say it plainly.
What the new data actually shows about nursing home costs
CareScout’s 2025 survey lays it out in plain numbers: a non‑medical in‑home caregiver runs about $35 per hour, assisted living averages roughly $6,200 a month, nursing home semi‑private beds hit about $315 a day (roughly $115,000 a year) and private rooms are around $355 a day (about $130,000 a year). CareScout also added private‑duty skilled nursing at home — roughly $90 an hour — which changes the calculus for families weighing home care versus institutional stays. Samir Shah, CEO of CareScout, warned the costs “remain high” even though annual growth slowed to mostly 1–5% in 2025. Translation: prices aren’t spiking as fast, but they are already painfully high.
Why too many families are drowning in elder care bills
AARP paints the human side: home care and assisted living jumped roughly 50% between 2019 and 2024, far outpacing incomes for older households. Alan Weil, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at AARP, called out a widening gap between what care costs and what families can afford. The reasons are predictable: a tight direct‑care workforce that demanded higher pay after the pandemic, an aging population that needs more services, and lingering inflation. Mix that with confusing federal rules — Medicare only helps with short, skilled stays and Medicaid covers long‑term care only for the poor after complex “spend‑down” rules — and you have a system that funnels families into bankruptcy, unpaid caregiving, or bad care choices.
Conservative solutions that won’t make things worse
Conservatives should stop acting shocked and start offering real options that respect families and markets. First, promote portable, tax‑favored long‑term care savings accounts and encourage private LTC insurance so more people have skin in the game before they get desperate. Second, remove needless regulatory barriers that choke caregiver supply and raise costs — sensible licensing reciprocity and streamlined training can bring caregivers to work faster. Third, reform Medicaid incentives so home‑and‑community‑based care is a practical alternative to institutionalization, not a bureaucratic maze. And yes, let’s be honest: sensible immigration or guest‑worker pathways for caregivers would ease shortages without breaking the bank.
Practical steps families can take now
If you’re not a policymaker, you still have options. Start planning early, discuss care preferences with loved ones, consider hybrid plans that mix paid and unpaid care, and look into local home‑based services before a crisis hits. The data makes one thing clear: hoping for the system to save you is a bad plan. AARP and CareScout both say plan sooner rather than later — and they’re right.
The bottom line
This year’s CareScout survey and AARP’s analysis should be a wake‑up call to voters and policymakers alike: elder care costs are a national affordability problem, not just a family tragedy. The math is ugly, but the cure is not just more spending. It’s smarter policy that expands choice, grows the caregiver workforce, and helps families save and insure against risk. Otherwise we’ll keep watching retirement nest eggs disappear while politicians promise pie‑in‑the‑sky solutions that never arrive. That’s not compassion — it’s a confidence game played with someone else’s grandma.
