Retirement homes can be quite expensive

Revera Homes charge extra for specific services
Before submitting a story to you about the cost of retirement homes always increasing, I would say that as a real esate agent with the Seniors Real Estate Specialist (SRES) designation, the best solution to managing the finances of a 'roof over your head', is to own your home until you require assistive living of a retirement home.
Too many people spend too many years paying rent.
In other words, don't sell your family home when you're 70 and then rent for 15 years before you may have to relocate to a retirement or residence for the aging. The best plan is to buy a condo apartment, so you have equity and likely full ownership of a home when it's time to 'down-size again. Sell the condo and use those dollars for your daily living.
Here's a story from the London Free Press about the soaring costs of retirement or nursing home living.

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Deep pockets needed for getting old

RETIREMENT HOMES: Area’s largest operator introduces new charges for services

By JONATHAN SHER, The London Free Press

Last Updated: June 29, 2012 9:26pm

LONDON -- Grandpa need someone to put on and take off his socks each day? That will be a charge of $252 a month.

Can't get to the dining hall on his own? Someone will take him for $606 a month. Or, if you like, his meals can be brought to him on a tray -- that will be $500. New charges for services that used to be included in a base price are a staple for airlines and cable TV, but now they've arrived at one of the area's largest operators of retirement homes, Revera Living.

Revera owns 10 homes in the U.S. and 93 in Canada, including three in London: Horizon Place, Maple Leaf Terrace and Windermere on the Mount.

Revera calls its new billing "a la carte services" and says it offers more flexibility.

But the family of one London resident says they were stunned with the new price list. They were told they'd be charged an extra $1,485.12 a month for someone to check their diabetic relative's blood glucose four times a day, a test that can take less than a minute to perform.

The new fee would raise the monthly bill about 50%.

"When looking at the new fee for services schedule the fees could go through the roof when my dad needs more care," said one family member who asked her father's name be kept confidential.

The family fears new charges will force seniors out of residences that have become their homes.

"For many people this will make their care completely unaffordable. I'm sure that many, like my father, planned and budgeted according to their original contracts and that these separate fees for services will make it impossible for them to stay where they have settled as their care needs increase," a family member said.

Unlike long-term care homes that get government funding and whose prices are regulated, retirement homes have had no limits on what they charge for services other than the basic cost of the room itself.

The Ontario government has begun to phase in regulations. Next week retirement homes must file licence applications for the first time.

The new rules don't limit the price of services but perhaps they should, said a lawyer for the agency enforcing the new regulations, the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority.

"This is really greenfield regulations . . . It's an area that should be looked into," lawyer John Risk said.

Retirement homes face limits on how much they increase room rates, just as other tenancies are, but the new law doesn't limit charges for other services, he said.

The thought of regulated prices for services left the head of the retirement home association reeling.

"The sector would be surprised," said Laurie Johnston, chief executive officer of the Ontario Retirement Communities Association.

The pricing system pushed by Revera is not unusual in Ontario, she said. The only limit is that homes must give 90 days notice before making changes, she said.

Revera says it's being competitive with the local market and defends the changes, saying the old fees wouldn't sustain a company in an industry that doesn't get government support.

"Our previous care package model, which was in place for many years with minimal fee increases, did not address this changing care dynamic, and was not sustainable.

"For this reason, we have moved to a fee for service care model, to provide options for individual services that residents may want or need, that has flexibility over time," Revera spokesperson Janet Ko said.

Asked if that flexibility meant some residents might pay less, Ko said many residents don't require added services and some will save money.

Ko acknowledged new prices pose problems for some residents.

"We recognize that changes to care services can be difficult for some families and residents, and respect their decisions as to whether they would like to continue to secure these care services from us, another provider, or in some cases, moving to long-term care," she said.

But the London family says Revera first gave them little time to consider alternatives, just eight business days. After the family objected, the Revera home agreed to bill one-quarter of the total, so long as their relative could get by on one blood glucose check a day, then agreed to delay that charge until another meeting was arranged.

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WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

Retirement Home (R) v. Long-term Care Home(LTC)

— R: No government money

— LTC: government subsidized

— R: Barely regulated until recently

— LTC: heavily regulated

— R: Cater to people with money

— LTC: Caters to those who need subsidies

— R: Generally fewer medical needs

— LTC: More intensive medical needs