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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, February 19, 2009

Senior care cost in Isles among highest

$4,422 monthly

Average Hawai'i cost of semi-private assisted-living facility

$3,230 monthly

Average national cost of semi-private assisted living facility

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Another study has found that Hawai'i's long-term-care costs are among the highest in the nation, with monthly rates for private units in assisted-living facilities at almost $1,000 more a month than the national average.

The study, commissioned by Northwestern Mutual Co., found the average cost of such a unit here was $4,406 a month compared with the national average of $3,430.

Long-term care and costs are becoming a more serious issue for the state as baby boomers age. Last year, the Legislature established a long-term-care commission charged with coming up with a five-year plan to ensure the availability of institutional and community-based care services. The commission is headed by Stuart Ho, AARP Hawaii volunteer state president.

"This is something we're constantly hearing about and constantly talking about," said Bruce Bottorff, AARP associate state director. "It's extremely expensive here."

The Northwestern report listed Hawai'i's rate for private-unit assisted-living facilities as the third-highest in the nation behind Washington, D.C., and Delaware. The study follows one released in October by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, which found the cost of a private nursing-home room in the Islands was $306 a day.

That was 44 percent higher than the national average.

Other findings of the Northwestern study:

• The average cost of a semi-private assisted-living facility was $4,422 a month in Hawai'i, or fourth-costliest in the nation. The national average was $3,230 a month.

• The average hourly cost of home healthcare services was $45 an hour here. That was the third-highest in the nation, compared with the national average of $27 an hour.

• The average daily rate for a private daily nursing home room was $304, or fifth-highest nationally.

Industry officials have said Hawai'i's high care costs are tied to the high cost of real estate and the high cost of doing business here, including wages, energy, goods and services.

Northwestern's study included a survey of almost 7,000 home-healthcare providers, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.

The insurance company said there were significant differences in hourly home wages of home health aides that caused people in the most-expensive markets to spend almost seven times as those in the least-expensive markets.