Planning for Continuing Care

""Where will I live when I start to need help with the daily business of living?  I don't want to wait for my children to open "the conversation".  I want to start that conversation myself.  Their input will influence me, but I want the decision to be mine." Jane Bryant Quinn

Jane Bryant Quinn is a personal finance expert, and she recommends checking into CCRC's (Continuing Care Retirement Communities).  I wish we had.  Because we did not, that means I am left to make all those decisions for my loved one, which has been the most difficult thing in my life.  Such a responsibility to make decisions for someone else's well being!!  And expensive.  Even with long-term care insurance (and I am so grateful for that), the cost out-of-pocket for us now is about $4000 a month, and that does not include medications which are several thousand dollars a year, even with prescription insurance.  People seem to be fairly unaware of the incredible expense of long-term care, but - having experienced  it -, I can now make better decisions for myself; and CCRC's are worth looking into.