Chapter 17: Who Will Help, and Who Will Pay?
The worksheets from Chapter 17 of Fifty-Five. Type your own numbers, or try an example from the book to see how each one works.
Your share of a skilled nursing stay
What you'd owe for a skilled nursing stay that Medicare covers. The first 20 days cost you $0, days 21 to 100 cost a daily amount, and after day 100 you pay the facility's full rate.
The formula: For the first 20 days, you pay $0. For days 21 to 100: (Days in the stay − 20) × Daily amount = Your share. After day 100, you pay the facility's full rate.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The paper worksheet below does not: it is the same arithmetic, written out.
The paper worksheet
Days in the stay ______ − 20 = Days you share the cost ______
Days you share the cost ______ × Daily amount $__________ = Your share $__________
Walk through it, step by step
- Count the days in the stay. If it's given in weeks, multiply by 7.
- If it's 20 or fewer, your share is $0. Stop there.
- If it's more than 20, subtract 20. If the stay is longer than 100 days, use 80 here.
- Multiply by the daily amount for the year. It's $217 in 2026.
- For any days past 100, multiply those days by the facility's own daily rate, and add that.
Check your answer
- Your share for days 21 to 100 can't be more than 80 × the daily amount. In 2026 that's $17,360.
- A Medicare supplement may pay some or all of the daily amount. A Medicare Advantage plan has its own schedule. Check your plan (Chapter 16).
- This is the facility's bill only. The hospital stay that came first has its own deductible.
Figures this worksheet uses, and where they come from: Skilled nursing facility daily amount for days 21 to 100 of a benefit period: $217 in 2026 (CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles); You pay $0 for days 1 to 20 and all costs after day 100 of a benefit period (CMS, 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles).
What a year of care costs
Turns an hourly or monthly rate into a yearly cost you can plan around.
The formula: Hours a day × Days a week × 52 weeks = Hours a year. Hours a year × Hourly rate = Yearly cost. For a facility: Monthly rate × 12 = Yearly cost.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The paper worksheet below does not: it is the same arithmetic, written out.
The paper worksheet
Hours a day ______ × Days a week ______ × 52 = Hours a year ______
Hours a year ______ × Hourly rate $__________ = Yearly cost $__________
Monthly rate $__________ × 12 = Yearly cost $__________
Walk through it, step by step
- Decide how many hours of paid help a day, and how many days a week.
- Multiply the two, then multiply by 52.
- Get the hourly rate from an agency near you. Ask about minimum hours and weekend rates.
- Multiply the hours a year by the rate.
- For assisted living, memory care or a nursing home, ask for the monthly rate with everything included, and multiply by 12.
Check your answer
- Divide the yearly cost by 12 to see it by the month. For Art: $33,280 ÷ 12 = $2,773. Ask yourself whether that fits beside your other bills.
This worksheet uses only the numbers you type. It has no government figure built in.
How long your care reserve would last
How many years of care your reserve could pay for, after the income you can put toward the bill.
The formula: Yearly cost of care − Income you can put toward it = Yearly gap. Care reserve ÷ Yearly gap = Years the reserve would last.
The calculator needs JavaScript. The paper worksheet below does not: it is the same arithmetic, written out.
The paper worksheet
Yearly cost of care $__________ − Income you can put toward it $__________ = Yearly gap $__________
Care reserve $__________ ÷ Yearly gap $__________ = Years the reserve would last ______
Walk through it, step by step
- Write the yearly cost from the worksheet above.
- Write the income that could go toward it. For care in a facility, that's most of the person's income. For care at home, it's only what's left after the regular bills.
- Subtract. That's the yearly gap.
- Add up your care reserve: the accounts and assets you've decided not to spend on anything else.
- Divide the reserve by the gap.
Check your answer
- Multiply the years by the yearly gap. You should get back the reserve: 6.78 × $66,336 = about $450,000. It matches.
- Compare your answer with the Administration for Community Living's figures earlier in this chapter: an average of 3.7 years of care for women and 2.2 for men, with about one person in five needing more than five. Not all of those years are paid care.
- If a spouse is still at home, do the worksheet with what's left after that spouse's living costs are covered.
This worksheet uses only the numbers you type. It has no government figure built in.