Long-Term Care Cost & Asset Spend-Down Runway

What it is

A deterministic, in-browser planning tool for the senior-care vertical (assisted living, skilled nursing, elder-law, senior financial planning): how long will liquid assets last paying for care? Enter the monthly care cost, an annual care-cost inflation rate, liquid assets, fixed monthly income (Social Security + pension), and other monthly expenses; it projects the asset balance month by month - with the care cost compounding annually at the inflation rate - and reports the runway (months and years) until assets reach zero, or "assets never deplete within the horizon" when income covers the cost at every month. Two charts: the declining asset balance over time and the rising annual care cost. No API, no key, no network, no AI - every figure is exact arithmetic over your own numbers, and the inflation rate you assumed is always shown so a wrong assumption never silently mis-projects. NOT financial, tax, legal, benefits, or medical advice.

Honest scope

Authorities cited

• Genworth Cost of Care Survey (annual) - national and state median monthly costs for in-home care, assisted living, and nursing-home (semi-private / private room) care; the source for a realistic starting monthly care cost and for regional care-cost inflation trends. Confirm the current-year figure for your care level and state.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, longtermcare.acl.gov / ASPE - "How Much Care Will You Need?" and national long-term-care cost and utilization data used to frame planning assumptions.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for medical care and nursing-home / adult-day-care services (series under CPI-U) - the published basis for a care-cost inflation assumption; historical medical-care inflation has generally exceeded headline CPI.
• Social Security Administration - 42 U.S.C. 415(i) cost-of-living adjustment (COLA): real benefits rise with the annual COLA. This tool holds income FLAT (a conservative assumption) and does NOT model COLA - confirm with SSA / ssa.gov.
• 42 U.S.C. 1396p (Social Security Act 1917) - Medicaid asset transfer / look-back and the penalty-period divisor used in spend-down planning. NOT computed here; this projection does not determine Medicaid eligibility. Confirm with your state Medicaid agency and an elder-law attorney.
• 42 U.S.C. 1396r / 42 CFR 483 - Medicaid-certified nursing-facility requirements (context for skilled-nursing cost). Medicare skilled-nursing coverage is limited (see 42 CFR 409.61) and is NOT modeled here.
• 38 U.S.C. 1521 / 38 CFR 3.274 - VA Aid & Attendance pension (a possible income offset for wartime veterans needing care). NOT modeled here - confirm eligibility with the VA.
• IRC 213(d) - medical-expense definition (long-term-care services can be deductible medical expenses subject to the AGI floor). Taxes are NOT modeled in this projection - confirm with a tax advisor.