PBS News Hour

Just showed retirees living it up in Chapala. (This from my sister who lives outside Philly.) So apparently all the news norte ain't bad.

Call your sister and see if she can tell you exactly where the party is in Chapala. Chapala always seemed a bit quiet for my taste

The PBS show featured...

Retirement/nursing homes
David Truly
Unrealistically low depiction of cost of living

Be prepared for an onslaught of Greek expats.

LOL

SunFan

Actually it was quite flattering.

WE too heard from friends in Virginia and North Carolina about tonights show. Although the video annd photos were lovely the low cost of living was misrepresented. Since both of these couples have houses here and are familiar with the area I suppose they could be discerning about what they were hearing. Hogwash. But we looked good.

I haven't explored what assisted living type situations cost, so I have no idea how accurate the info is in the video. But I have met several people who still live NOB and come to visit their elders who are being cared for here in a much better manner I'm told and, evidently, at far lower cost.

A link to the PBS video

the woman beside ron is 94.

From friends who have had to research this, most of the assisted living and nursing homes around Lakeside are charging $1200-1500 a month plus personal care items, medications and doctor visits.

Here's a link to the vid.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/foreign-retirees-flocking-mexico/#.VZtD99cHt7A.facebook

Depending on needs 1k to 2k USD per month. We have friends family member in Alicias in La Floresta. Very good place.

Pedro wrote:the woman beside ron is 94.

 

My mother-in-law is in the background of that photo, behind Ron, wearing the blue/green blouse and has her shades on. She is 95 and has full-time care in Ron's facility for about 3 yrs. now.. Her first move to Lakeside was in early '60's. That type of care in US runs around 6-9K+ per month depending on location.

I think the care facilities costs were not misrepresented and they stated the "average COL" here was $2500US, which is within the range IMHO.

David wrote:I think the care facilities costs were not misrepresented and they stated the "average COL" here was $2500US, which is within the range IMHO.

Not meaning to argue the point but the "$2500" reference was "The average cost for independent living in the U.S. is about $2,500 a month.", which is right on target. "Independent living" in a facility gets you 3 meals a day, some limited supervision, and some planned group activities, etc.. Lakeside facility cost for "Independent living" is about 50-60% less than in the U.S... The big difference in scale is when you need full time, nursing home style care. That's when you really get hammered in the U.S.. Then the U.S. costs skyrockets to roughly 3-4 times the amounts charged Lakeside for 24/7 nursing home care.

Yep, it is all about labor costs. A nurse here might make $75 pesos per hour. NOB they are making $300 pesos (or more) per hour. The hard costs are about the same depending on the city up north.

One of my spouse's uncle and aunt moved into an assisted living complex in central CA.  It was $4,000 US dollars EACH.  When we visited, there didn't seem to be anything special about it. They said it was supposed to be "the best" in the area. Yikes. At least here, there's usually a nice garden to look at.

I have 2 aunts in France in assisted care facilities and they pay 1600 euros a month everything included, so 2500 dollars in Mexico sounds on the high side.
My mother looked into a high end one for later and it was 2100 euros. That one was pretty fancy, in a beautiful brand new building in a park. The cost in the US sound insane.

John Simmons, who was interviewed for the piece, lives in Abbeyfield and is a friend of mine. I've gone over to see him and he has a very nice little apartment with kitchen and patio area. It's just perfect for a single person. He pays 16,000 pesos per month and that includes 3 meals per day, internet, phone and utilities. He stated in the interview "slightly more than $ 1,000 USD / month".
That is considerably cheaper than any independent living facility up north. Which was the point of the piece.

My mother lives in a complex again in france, she has a nice one bedroom apartment with kitchenette a nice large balcony. They have a van that takes people shopping twice a week. The electricity water, heat,phone service included for 1100 euros a month. There is a restaurant downstairs (elevator) the gourmet , large meals cost 9 euro per person including wine, most people come with their little boxes and have left over for dinner...
The complex also offers rooms at 20 euros a night for visitors and meals at 10 euros. The meals for the visitors and the person living there can be served in their apartments or private room or in the general area.
It sounds like The US is out of touch with Europe and Mexico and Mexico does not look that cheap to me.

"The US is out of touch with Europe and Mexico.."

Yes, and of course this is true in many respects but surely in the healthcare field. My wife's uncle lived in what I will call a middle-class city of 40k in northern Indiana. He had to go into an assisted facility when his ALS got too bad. Nice but nothing real special. His room was quite large and the cost included all meals and some 'attendant' care. The cost was a staggering (to our mindset) $7,000/mo. Fortunately he was able to afford that, but when he died recently he had 'contributed' $250,000 to that place.

So, yes, out of touch......

Your $1,000,000.00 a year American Doctors have expenses too... Legal Bills, Insurance Payments and The Maserati Dealership........... someones gotta pay

Rick S you are correct staggering..It is really not right, many people cannot afford that. In France many people cannot afford the cost eiher but the government picks up some of the cost and the kids also have to pay. What the kids pay is based on their income..not totally fair since in some families some kids are deadbeats and the ones that are working ge to pay a whole lot more..but that is what we do. The kids and sometimes grand-kids are liable for the parents and the government helps out as well. What doctors can charge is regulated. If you want faster service or famous doctors those guys ask for money under the table...corruption is everywhere .

But brigitte, France is full of French people.

You have not been there for a while obviously.

Interesting that prices for this kind of care are more reasonable in France. Surprising. I wonder what they'd be without the government subsidy, etc.

yes I wonder but even the expensive places are nothing like the prices in the States so something is off somewhere. Employees are a huge cost there , a cleaning lady costs an employer 30 euros an hour..because the SS and pension have to be paid so they are not saving money on the help and the realestate is not that cheap either. No wonder we are going broke..

Oh yeah, the US is definitely ridiculous, which is why so many up there are looking for alternatives. Just surprised by the France numbers.