What is a Continuing Care Retirement Community(CCRC)
A Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) is a community living arrangement, typically on a single campus, that provides housing, health care, and social services, usually for older people. CCRCs offer different levels of care ranging from independent housing to nursing home care.
- Depending on the type of CCRC, it can be a financing option for long-term care services, as well as a living arrangement and a means of obtaining long-term care services more easily.
- You can move into a CCRC even if you need no care and live independently in your own housing unit.
- If and when you need more care, you move from independent housing to the assisted living unit or to the nursing home, depending on your needs.
- In addition to a monthly fee based on the size of your independent living unit, most CCRCs also charge a one-time entrance fee.
- In some CCRCs, you pay an additional amount for care when you move to the assisted living or nursing care facility; in others, your monthly fee is all-inclusive and does not increase even if you move to a different living setting where you can receive long-term care services.
- Monthly payments and contracts vary widely.
Important Considerations:
- Many CCRCs provide care in the assisted living unit or nursing home, but may provide little or no care in an independent living unit.
- Some CCRCs allow you to hire your own home health care services while you live in an independent living unit; others require you to be fully independent to remain in an independent living unit.
- Health screening is often required before you can move into the independent living unit. Some CCRCs allow married couples to move into an independent living unit even if one spouse requires some care.
- CCRCs tend to be expensive.
- The campus/community lifestyle is not for everyone.