How Much Do You Pay Per Week for an In-Home Care Giver?

Some in-home care services require a minimum of three to four hours per daily visit.
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In-home care givers provide basic care services for the elderly and other people who are not able to take care of themselves but prefer to stay at home. The level of care and amount of time required, along with your geographic location, affect the costs of in-home care services. Such services, however, are relatively expensive.

Care Basics

In-home care is a unique type of hospice service. If you only need someone to check up on you for a while each day, you would pay per hour of service. Full-time care is more complex. Typically, you must be able to sleep through the night and you must offer the care provider a room in which to also get a full night of sleep. Otherwise, you may need to live at a nursing facility. Some in-home care providers work five days a week. If you need seven-day care, two or three providers rotate in shifts of one to three days.

General Costs

Standard rates for weekly in-home care service range from around $700 to $3,000 as of 2012, according to Ann Cason, founder and director of Circles of Care. Caregiverlist.com indicates the normal daily rate ranges from $160 to $250. Over a week, this equals $1,120 to $1,750. While this sounds quite expensive, in-home care is very competitive with costs at a full-care residential facility and you get personal care while living in your home.

Additional Cost Factors

Availability of qualified and affordable care varies by location. Naturally, the fewer the number of care givers and the more demand, the more you pay. Cason notes that if you hire two to three young nurses in their 20s or 30s and give them reasonable shifts of eight to 10 hours, you might save a little bit of money. Of course, you should exercise care in screening applicants for qualifications, experience and references to ensure appropriate quality of care. The amount of intense, attentive care as well as any obstacles like language and communication or bathroom problems can add to your costs.

Other Considerations

If you don't need full-day or around-the-clock care, you have more flexibility and ways to save money. You could get by paying $15 to $25 for basic daily checks or simply pay for in-home visits from medical providers for regular check-ups and as needed. Medicare programs typically cover the costs for qualified in-home care visits from doctors and nurses, according to Caregiverlist.com.

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