A while back, I read someone had done a cost comparison between nursing homes versus cruise ships for long-term residence. It made a lot of sense, and I hadn't even considered the two as comparable until then.
The comparison was between cruise ships and assisted living facilities, which are a lower level of care. Nursing homes have more medical care; assisted living is more "someone cooks and cleans for you, but you can still go to the bathroom and get dressed on your own."
Still, the basic point that a cruise ship has better amenities and personal services than many "independent living" assisted-living retirement homes that cost more does highlight how ridiculously expensive senior care, even less acute senior care, has become in America.
If there aren't staff on the cruise ship to remind you to brush your teeth, to ensure you take the correct pills at the correct time, and to help you get to the toilet several times per day, then I don't think they're comparable at all, before actual medical care as in treatment or rehabilitation of any kind enters the picture.
Ability to tolerate and care for residents in severe mental and mobility decline are kind of the differentiator between a nursing home and other kinds of lodging.
It's an excerpt from a book published at the time of the publication of this excerpt. It's meant to catch your interest (or not), and if it succeeds possibly sell you on buying and reading (or having in your home) the book.
