With all the recent steps insuring my mother-in-law gets the best of care with what she can afford, I keep hearing over and over to invest in Long Term Care Insurance now, while I'm young. And you know what, I had no idea how much it cost to live somewhere like at an assisted-living facility. For instance, my mother-in-law does not have any Long Term Care Insurance therefore has to pay out of pocket if we want her to be in a place other than a nursing home (which would be paid by medicare because she doesn't have much money.) It costs around $4,000 dollars to share a room with someone else at an assisted living place here where we live.

I finally found one which has a studio apartment where she doesn't have to share (a big room where she can put a bed and a couple of chairs which is huge compared to the half rooms I have seen at other places.) Since she is a widow of a soldier who served during war time, she may be eligible for a little money from the VA but it's going to take up to 6 months for it to kick in. So, of what little money she does have, it'll go toward that assisted living until it's used up, then she'll go to a nursing home (hopefully in a couple of years or longer.) We may rent out her house to subsidize her when her money runs out but as it appears now, we'll be taking care of her taxes and house insurance out of our pocket. She'll still going to have a deficit of about $2,000 each month. How sad... I can't see putting her somewhere like in a nursing home where she shares half a room...there is no room for anything except a bed for each resident (and a tv stand maybe.)

She had 8 kids...5 are still alive and has grandkids and great grandkids. But for her illness, it is quite burdensome to whoever cares for her. I love her but can't do it. You have to really love someone to care for them in this situation. While I do, I don't have the time with two small kids and the work schedule of my husband. But, I'm doing the very next best thing. And, I'm going to be looking into this insurance...I don't want my kids or grandkids to be in my shoes right now.