If you or one of your relatives is aging in place, and in need of help with basic tasks around the house, such as cleaning, personal care, bathing, and other such necessities, including basic medical needs, you may be in need of a home health aide.
In-home nursing care and home health aides are very helpful. These full-time caregivers can take care of your basic necessities and allow you or a loved one to live a more comfortable, happy life. Whether you are a family caregiver who needs a break, or an aging senior who may need help in the near-future, it’s important to know what to expect from in-home nursing care.
If you’re wondering about in-home care costs, basics about home care cost per hour, or other in home nursing care costs, you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll discuss the costs associated with home health aides, and how much you can expect to pay when hiring caregivers. Let’s begin.
What is home health aide?
In most cases, if you or a loved one wish to age in place, home health aid is what you’ll want. Home health aid agencies will provide you with a trained and experienced home health aide.
It’s important to note that home health aides are, with few exceptions, not trained medical professionals. They are not nurses, and typically cannot do any medical tasks beyond basic things like reminding your loved one to take medication and other such things.
Because of this, you may need to hire a specialist, part-time nurse to augment your home health aide’s services. Why not just hire a nurse full time? Because it’s much more expensive.
The home health aides mostly provide the same services that a family caregiver would, and are not highly skilled, and their rates are usually lower. In most states, home health aides will charge rates of $20-$30 per hour.
In comparison, a highly-skilled nurse may cost $40-$80 per hour – and their services are not usually required all the time. Choosing a home health aide allows you or a loved one to get proper care, without the high cost of a full-time nurse. The cost of home health aide is much lower.
It’s also often a good idea not to hire the most inexpensive care provider available to you. They may not have the proper license or home health care provider insurance – and you or your loved one may get sub-par treatment. You should do your research before hiring any particular agency, to make sure you’re partnering with a reputable company.
Now that we’ve begun discussing money, let’s take a look at the numbers behind at-home care – and how much you can expect a home health care agency to charge.
How Much Does Home Health Care Cost?
The cost of home health care varies wildly, depending on the services that you need. For example, hiring a home health aide will be much more inexpensive, compared to hiring a registered nurse or another medical professional.
Because of this, the cost of home healthcare can be quite inconsistent – based on your needs, the services that you require, and a number of other factors. Some of these factors include:
- The type of services you require – To put things simply, one of the biggest factors that influence the cost of home health care is the number of different services you require, as this also influences how much work must be done by a nurse or a home health aide.
For example, an older, active adult who cannot drive, and simply needs transportation services and help with basic tasks around the house will pay much less than an individual who needs assistance with every task, from bathing to eating, taking medication, and so forth. - The hours worked by your home health aide – The more hours worked by a home health aide, the more you’ll pay. While some folks do have full-time home health aides, it’s often more affordable to only hire a part-time aid, and augment their services with family caregiving.
- Extent of disabilities – Individuals who are severely handicapped and disabled will need special services. They may even need to hire a qualified nurse, rather than a home health aide, in order to ensure their safety and proper administration of medication.
- State of residence – Depending on the cost of living in your state of residence, and the rates charged by local home health services, you could pay more – or less. It all depends on market factors and demand for home health aides.
These are just a few of the most common factors that could influence how much you pay for at-home care for a loved one, or for yourself. Next, let’s explore the basics of home health aid and home health aides.
How much do home health care agencies charge?
How much does it cost for home health care? Again, this depends on a variety of factors. But in this section of our article, we’ll go over some of the basics, and the general costs you can expect to pay, based on hourly, monthly, yearly rates and more.
Home care cost per hour
Wondering about the hourly rate for elderly care? Let’s dig into the basics about what you can expect the cost of in-home care per hour now, and the different factors that affect home health care cost per hour.
As we briefly mentioned above, the average wages of a home health aide worker are about $19 per hour. If you’re working with a larger home health aide company, you can expect to pay a bit more, due to additional fees.
However, in some cases, the cost of hiring a home health aide may be closer to $30 per hour, especially if you need full-time service, or you or your loved one has more complex needs due to a handicap or disability.
Health care cost per month
The average cost of in-home caregivers for monthly services may vary based on the agency, how much time the health aide spends giving care, and a number of other factors. This tool is handy for calculating how much you may pay per month for at-home care.
As an example, you’ll pay about $1680 per month for 20 hours of care per week, at $20 per hour.
This may seem steep – but the average monthly cost of an assisted living facility can easily be up to $4,000-$6,000 per month, so using the services of a home health care aide is often the better choice for your budget.
Average healthcare cost per year
The total annual healthcare cost of an at home health aide, using the above cost estimates, will be about $21,480, for 20 hours of care per week.
Again, this may seem steep, but in comparison, living in an assisted living facility usually costs around $70,000. If you or your loved one is in good health, and only needs minor assistance with tasks around the house, choosing an at-home caregiver is often the most economical choice – and offers significant cost savings. And, in some cases, aging at home can mean a higher quality of life for your loved ones, as they won’t need to go through the jarring transition of moving to a home care facility.
Long-term health care costs
How much does long-term care cost? Long term health care costs depend on a variety of factors, so let’s explore this subject in detail now.
“Long term health care” usually refers to caring for basic personal necessities, such as bathing and the necessities of daily living. It’s also not usually covered by Medicare.
If you need only long-term health care services, you’ll likely pay out of pocket. The cost of long-term care is usually around the same as the cost of a home health aide, so you’ll pay about $20 or more per hour, depending on your location.
24-hour home health care cost
How much does in home care cost if you or a loved one needs 24-hour assistance? Quite a bit. If we consider the average wage of a home health aide to be $21 per hour, the cost of 24-hour care – 3 aides working 8-hour shifts – would exceed $180,000 per year.
If you or a loved one needs 24-hour care, it’s typically much more cost effective to live at a skilled nursing facility, which usually costs somewhere around $80,000 per year. While aging and living at home is a great thing, it’s not appropriate for those who need 24/7, around-the-clock care.
Find out how to lower HHC costs now!
Whether you’re thinking about how to lower your own home healthcare costs in the future, you need help paying for care for a loved one, or you are interested in learning more about home health care for any other reason, make sure to read our blog for tips and tricks on how to minimize the cost of at-home healthcare So don’t wait. Find out how to lower your costs, get better care, and ensure that you and your loved ones stay safe as you age.
