Research shows long-term care costs for the elderly have risen sharply, 50% over five years, which is putting a strain on middle-class families. Put bluntly, more and more Americans can't afford to get old.
"So they're being pushed into sort of two pathways, one of which is to forego care," AARP President Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan said to CBS News. "The other is to try to sort of parse together healthcare for themselves, which then often depletes most of their savings."
An AARP report said that, in 2024, family caregivers put in nearly 50 billion hours of unpaid care worth more than $1 trillion. But what of people who don't have family to care for them as they age?
CBS News told the story of Ken Sternfeld, 71, a retired New York pharmacist who worked hard his whole life but who now needs about 10 hours a day of in-home care, including meal preparation and help with cleaning for himself and wife Ronnie. They had to deplete all their assets before insurance would kick in.
"About a year-and-a-half of fighting, of filling out forms, waiting for answers, getting denied, having appeals, doing a fair hearing," Ken Sternfeld said. "They wait until you give up. They want you to give up. I believe that."
And even for those lucky enough to have family willing to drop everything to care for them as they age, those family members have to support themselves somehow, too.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Consumer Price Index shows that between May 2025 and May 2026, home care prices increased by 7.9% -- almost double the 4.2% rate of inflation, and "significantly higher than major categories such as food and housing."
Additionally, over the last year, nursing home care prices have increased by almost 5%. That leaves people struggling to care for aging relatives and friends on their own.
AARP data
AARP data
"We have caregivers who are working full-time jobs and also full time taking care of their loved one," Minter-Jordan said. "And in many instances, this is unsustainable, and it is a wake-up call for our country."
