U.S. Nursing Home Prices Force Families to Seek Care Abroad
U.S. nursing home fees can top $10,000 a month, leading a family to use Medicaid for one parent and a Mexican memory-care facility for the other.
The piece underscores how American nursing home expenses, often exceeding $10,000 monthly, are not reimbursed by Medicare, making quality eldercare a luxury for many families. Faced with simultaneous dementia diagnoses, Anna de la Cruz’s relatives split their approach: they applied for a Medicaid “spend down” to cover her mother’s care in the United States and sent her father to a memory-care facility in Mexico. The narrative references senior-care manager Laura Silverstein of Silver and Sage Consulting NW and advocate Wendy Jane Carrell of Wellness Shepherd, and advises readers to locate local care managers through the Aging Life Care Association. It also highlights the Gen Xandwich caregiving newsletter, the Death, Sex & Money podcast now produced by Slate, and the Slate Plus membership that offers ad-free content and full article access.
Why it matters
Rising eldercare costs force families to split care across borders, exposing gaps in U.S. health coverage.
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