A TikToker shared her shock and dismay with the quote she received from an assisted living facility in a viral video that’s accrued over 114,000 views as of Thursday. Tiffany (@wellwithtiffany) says that while inquiring into the monthly costs for elder care, she was met with a figure tantamount to what a high-paying salary would be before taxes: $8,000 a month.
Viewers said that they, too, have been shocked by the amounts they were quoted for with assisted living facilities, prompting a conversation on the hopelessness of getting old in America and receiving care.
In the video, Tiffany, with her hand up to the side of her head, looks directly into the camera as she comments on the current state of elder care facility costs in the United States. “I called an elder care facility to find out pricing for like assisted living for potentially one of my parents and they said $8,000 a month,” she explains.
What’s more is that Tiffany said the staggering figure was on the lower end of the type of care provided by these facilities. “At least, at least $8,000 a month. Who’s gonna pay for that? Who’s gonna pay for that?” she asks into the camera.
Looking at aggregated costs of assisted living in the United States, it would seem that pricing, like virtually any good or service, is largely contingent on one’s area.
According to Senior Living, the “median cost of assisted living in 2023 is $4,774 per month,” in the country. The website states that while the entirety of the cost of assisted living communities isn’t covered by insurance plans like Medicare and Medicaid, some of the services offered in these communities are, meaning folks may be able to offset costs by utilizing insurance services offered to senior citizens.
The states with the highest annual care costs revealed staggering numbers: Rhode Island ($86,904), New Jersey ($82,687), Massachusetts ($82,750), and Alaska ($86,951). The most affordable state, according to the list, is South Dakota at $42,648 annually.
Where You Live Matters, a senior living resource by the American Senior Housing Association, seems to confirm some of these figures as well. According to the outlet, the annual monthly cost, on average, in the United States for assisted living communities is around $4,500 per month, which was also echoed by the National Council on Aging. It should be noted, however, that these figures are both based on the same 2021 Genworth Cost of Care survey.
@wellwithtiffany This is the conversation we need to start having #eldercare ♬ original sound – WellWithTiffany
TikTokers who responded to Tiffany’s video said they were similarly shocked by the quotes they received when looking for assisted living facilities for their loved ones.
“I experienced this with my dad. Quoted $7700 a month. We were able to care for him at home with the help of home health aides,” one person wrote.
Another person’s comment argued that the pricing structures of these facilities are largely based on greed rather than the cost of services, stating that the health aides employed at these facilities don’t earn enough to warrant such an exorbitant cost. “And they only be paying their workers like $18/ hour. the math ain’t mathing,” they wrote.
Someone else shared a grim reality that many Americans face as they head into old age: “We tell everyone to save for college, but we don’t tell them to save for assisted-living.”
One TikToker wrote that despite spending a pretty penny on her grandmother’s assisted living facility, she didn’t believe that the quality of the facility warranted such a high price tag. “My grandmother was in a $10K a month and the REALLY scary thing it is was NOT that nice at all,” the user wrote.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Tiffany via email for further comment.