Families usually arrive at this question from one of two directions. Either you have been caring for your loved one at home and are wondering what a memory care rate would actually buy, or you have toured a community and cannot tell what the number on the brochure covers. This post answers both: what memory care includes, what is often left out, and what caring at home really costs, in money and in everything else.

Prices themselves are not the point here. If you want current national and Michigan figures, they are in our guide to memory care facility cost per month. This post is about what you are paying for.

What a memory care monthly rate includes

At its best, a memory care rate is the cost of replacing an entire household's worth of effort with trained, round-the-clock help. It typically includes:

  • Round-the-clock caregivers trained in dementia care, present day and night.
  • Personal care: bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and help at mealtimes.
  • Medication management, so the right dose is taken at the right time.
  • Meals, ideally cooked in the home and eaten together.
  • A safe setting built for people who may wander or become confused.
  • Daily activities that keep your loved one engaged and celebrate remaining abilities.
  • Housekeeping and laundry.
  • Care coordination with physicians, therapists, and, when the time comes, hospice.

At Memory Lane, every one of those is inside one all-inclusive monthly rate. Two caregivers are on shift in each six-bedroom home throughout the day and one overnight, every care plan begins with an evaluation by a Recreational Therapist, and the rate varies only by room type and does not increase as care needs change. Contact us for current pricing and availability.

What is often billed separately

Elsewhere, the base rate may cover the room and meals, with care priced on top in tiers or points. As your loved one needs more help, the bill steps up. Items that are commonly separate charges include level-of-care tiers, medication administration, continence supplies, a move-in or community fee, and scheduled annual increases. None of this is a reason to avoid a community. It is a reason to ask for the full picture before you compare it with anything else, including caring at home.

The costs of caring for someone with dementia at home

Home feels free because the mortgage is already paid or the rent already due. It is not free, and the costs come in three kinds.

The visible costs

Paid in-home help by the hour, adult day programs, home modifications such as grab bars and door alarms, continence supplies, prepared meals, transportation to appointments, and the equipment that accumulates as mobility changes. Each one is small on its own. Together they become a second budget.

The invisible costs

Family caregivers pay for care out of their own pockets and out of their own working lives. AARP's 2021 caregiving cost study found that family caregivers spent an average of $7,242 a year of their own money on caregiving, about 26% of their income. That is money spent on someone else's care while a caregiver's own retirement savings, hours at work, and career often shrink.

There is a health cost as well: the lifting, the broken sleep, the constant watching, and the appointments a caregiver skips for themselves. Burnout is not a character flaw. It is what happens when one person tries to do the work of a household of caregivers.

The 24-hour problem

Dementia care does not stop at night. Wandering, sundowning, and disrupted sleep mean the caregiver is on duty around the clock, and paid help by the hour becomes very expensive when the hours are all of them. This is usually the moment families begin to compare the total cost of caring at home with a memory care rate, and find the gap is far smaller than the starting price suggested.

Comparing the two honestly

Put the two columns side by side. In one, add up paid help, supplies, programs, modifications, and the income a family caregiver has given up. In the other, write down the memory care rate and every separate charge you were told to expect. Then ask two more questions of each: how much hands-on attention does my loved one get, and what happens to the cost when their needs grow?

For many families, a small all-inclusive home is where those answers line up: predictable cost, a caregiver ratio that makes hands-on care possible, and a plan that adjusts without a new bill. If you are weighing home care against memory care for a spouse, our post on caring for a spouse with dementia at home vs. memory care walks through when it is time.

Frequently Asked Questions About What Memory Care Includes

Does Medicare pay for memory care?

Medicare does not pay for long-term care, including room and board in a memory care home. It continues to cover medical care such as physician visits and hospice.

Can memory care costs be tax-deductible?

Some memory care costs may qualify as medical expenses under IRS Publication 502 when a licensed health care practitioner certifies that the resident is chronically ill and the care follows a prescribed plan of care. Ask a tax professional about your loved one's situation.

What should I ask about what a rate includes?

Ask for the invoice, not the brochure: what is in the base rate, what is billed separately, whether the rate rises with care needs, the caregiver-to-resident ratio by day and night, and who writes the care plan.

Come and see what the rate covers

Memory Lane's three six-bedroom homes are on Carpenter Road in Ypsilanti, less than 30 minutes from downtown Ann Arbor, and there are always openings. See what our memory care includes, or schedule a tour and ask us everything above in person.