The overlooked costs of dementia
A case of dementia in the family can be incredibly difficult to adjust to. In early cases, it can lead to confusion and anguish among your family as you seek to adapt to a new way of dealing with your relative. As the disease progresses, you’ll find that you have to make a number of difficult decisions in order to protect the health of your loved one, including considering care options. All of this means that you’ll experience financial impacts on your lifestyle as well as personal and emotional concerns for your relative. This article details some of the hidden financial hits that can take place when you’re caring for someone with dementia.
Life Insurance
If your loved one was looking to take out a life insurance policy before they were diagnosed with dementia, they’d unfortunately find that taking out coverage becomes more expensive with their diagnosis. This is risk management from the insurance company’s side, as a long-term disease is, of course, a morbidity indicator that they will use in their underwriting process. For families looking to protect themselves from the financial impact of the death of their loved one, this can mean higher premiums. A case of dementia in the family can be incredibly difficult to adjust to. In early cases, it can lead to confusion and anguish among your family as you seek to adapt to a new way of dealing with your relative. As the disease progresses, you’ll find that you have to make a number of difficult decisions in order to protect the health of your loved one, including considering care options. All of this means that you’ll experience financial impacts on your lifestyle as well as personal and emotional concerns for your relative. This article details some of the hidden financial hits that can take place when you’re caring for someone with dementia.
Missing Work
If you’re still interested in finding out what kinds of life insurance policies are out there, including for those who are terminally ill, it’s worth reading through the website of Future Proof insurance who have a lot of information around specific health conditions, including dementia and Alzheimer’s. As is always the case, the sooner you take out a life insurance policy, or the sooner it’s taken out by your aging loved ones, the cheaper those policies will be.
As a younger carer of a relative with dementia – even if you’re just making the occasional visit when something goes wrong at their home – you’ll inevitably miss some work. This is never a huge hassle for you, as you’re always happy to go and assume your duties for your family. Still, it can result in less pay from work, as the Washington Post notes, especially if you’ve agreed with your employer that you can take time off unpaid when you’re needed for care.
The other impact of having a relative with dementia needs is that you can often be overlooked for promotions and other opportunities should your extra time be taken up by the care of your relative. This is often why younger family members who are still in work will opt to pay for high-quality care, ensuring they remain in work and can provide well for their families.
Care
Of course, with a certain level of dementia comes a high level of care. If your relative is no longer able to function on their own or even with the help of their spouse, you’ll need to consider alternative arrangements, which will all have a price. There are two main options here: you can try to use an in-house carer, who lives with your loved one in their own home to ensure they’re safe, or you should consider a home for those with dementia.
Both options are expensive, and you’ll want to consider which home or carer you go with in order to ensure that you’re not spending money you simply do not have. There’s a trade-off here between the quality of the care and the amount of cash you can afford to spend on your relative. Sometimes your relative will be able to pay with their own savings, of course, so it’s well worth finding out how you can access this cash in order to take care of them and ultimately to reduce the amount of your money that you need to spend on your family.
Transport
You might not expect it, but the transportation costs of visiting elderly relatives with dementia can be rather high. This is especially the case if they’re in a local care home that you have decided to visit at least once a week to check up on them. Add to those journeys the fact that you might do some shopping for your relative in order to provide them with some comforts, and you’ll quickly find that this new part of your lifestyle is costing you cash every week.
That’s an expense that many people are happy to bear. After all, visiting a loved one in a care home is one of the most important things you can do to make them feel loved, and you’ll feel a familial duty to be there for them as they’re suffering from the disease. Still, it’s worth factoring in your transportation costs when you’re reconsidering your budget during this new reality.
Make sure you’re aware of these extra costs when you’re adjusting your life around the health and care of a loved one with dementia.