Second Person Pricing

Provision Living at Columbia has been open 9 months (memory care, 21 beds on the first floor). Mill Creek Arbors has been open 3 months (memory care, 17 to 23 beds). Provision Living has 3 beds empty; Mill Creek Arbors has 6-9 beds empty. The two sites are meeting market needs about equally.

Currently these spaces are rented at about the same all-inclusive price for single memory care occupancy: Provision Living, $6,000 and Mill Creek Arbors, $6,400. The differences in price for two people, in the prior post (Chart 11), did not show this fact. All-inclusive at Mill Creek Arbors includes a furnished apartment, but you can bring your own furniture.

What is new is that both have two couples occupying, separate independent living and memory care apartments, or, one person receiving independent living services, as a second person, in a memory care apartment (different services in one apartment).

[Looking back at our experiences of the past 6 months, my best location would still be the clean air house we just sold last month on a high market. We must now make the best of residential care for my wife who really needs such care.]

We have lived a month in this memory care apartment, with the same furniture that was in the 3-room, 2-bed, independent/assisted living apartment (except for two chairs and the bed headboard), We receive improved services with far less staff time. We have about the same useable space. And it cost a bit less. The second person independent living fee is applied to assisted living and memory care (Chart 12).

Mill Creek has pricing for all three levels of care. Chart 12 puts these into perspective. When we first looked into residential care, we looked at independent living priced of $3,100/mo. I included a charge for more than one meal a day. The included second person fee was $700/mo. Only Lenoir Woods had such a low entry fee for a couple.

If we had qualified for assisted living at Mill Creek, the charge could have been $5,600/mo for the two of us. Assuming a 25% discount on the second person, I plotted this as $3,200 and $2,400 for the first and second person (Chart 12).

The price for combined independent living and memory care at Mill Creek Arbors is about the same if both persons use one large room or each person uses a smaller room (Chart 12). The concept of a second person fee does not exist past independent living. It is replaced with a discount for purchasing more than one space.

The room layout (studio) and how things can be arranged in them at Provision Living allows for a second person without having to purchase a second space. This seems to be on a case-by-case basis. In our case, it was a verbal agreement in August last year; several months before we were moved in in December.

Provision Living at Columbia 21 Memory Care Apartments

Mill Creek Arbors makes optimum use of the common space by eliminating hallways. The remaining three empty private rooms (1, 9, and 15) are also the three rooms that exit into the three short hallways that exit the building or go to the common area.

Mill Creek Arbors 17-23 Memory Care Beds

Price is a strong factor in selecting one of these sites for a couple (Chart 12). The overall layout and appointments are an equally strong factor for a single person. The same reasoning applies here as in buying a car or a house. If cost is within an acceptable range (after you get over the initial sticker shock), other factors are more important in making a choice.

In our case Provision Living opened shortly before we needed it; with no waiting list. Mill Creek opened shortly before we acquired a new financial advisor to sort out insurance and money. Insurance must match licensing.

We visited several residential care sites more than once to figure out which one would fit best now and in the future (as health needs changed). Out first choice of independent living, with memory care as daycare, was not good after a few months even with all services within one building.

Things are going much better with my independent living services in my wife’s memory care apartment. She can now come and go as she needs (likes at the moment, including naps). I still spend much of my time in the assisted living area: breakfast, noon meal, exercising. The Internet in the library connects me to this blog.

[Chart 12 was transferred from the PC side of this MacBook Pro to the Mac side using an iPhone. Recent updates have made some of the software incompatible, not operable, or just missing. Windows 10 may fix part of the problems.]