Long-Term Care Cost Runway Calculator

The question families actually face is not what care costs per month. It is how many months the money lasts — and therefore how much time there is to plan before the answer has to change.

Two things make the honest number shorter than the arithmetic people do in their heads. Care prices rise faster than general inflation, and the gap between income and cost widens every year as a result.

What to do with the number

The runway matters because the alternatives all have long lead times. Medicaid eligibility involves a lookback period on asset transfers, veterans' benefits take months to process, and moving someone to a different facility is disruptive enough that families avoid doing it twice.

If the runway is under roughly two years, that is the signal to start those conversations now rather than when the account is nearly empty.

What this does not include

• Level-of-care increases. Memory care costs more than assisted living, and a move up in care level is a step change, not an annual percentage.
• The home. If a house will be sold, add the net proceeds to liquid assets — but only what is left after costs of sale and any remaining mortgage.
• Benefit programs. Anything that pays part of the bill extends the runway substantially.