About Honest Elder Care
Honest Elder Care is an independent publisher that explains what elder care costs in the United States and how families actually pay for it. We cover assisted living, nursing homes, memory care, and home care, state by state, and the public programs behind them: Medicaid, Medicare, VA benefits, and long-term care insurance.
Why this site exists
Elder care is one of the largest expenses a family ever faces, and it is usually shopped for in a crisis, under time pressure, with pricing that is hard to compare. Community brochures quote base rents that exclude the care levels most residents end up paying for. Lead-generation sites bury families in phone calls. The government programs that pay for most long-term care in America are barely mentioned at the sales desk.
We think the fix is boring and powerful: publish the real numbers, cite where every number comes from, explain the payment programs in plain English, and let families arrive at every conversation informed. That is the whole business model.
What we are, and what we are not
- We are a publisher. We research, write, and maintain cost guides.
- We are not a care provider, a placement agency owned by any community, a law firm, or a financial advisor.
- We do not sell your information to call centers. Where this site offers to connect a reader with a service, it says so on the page, in plain language, before anything is sent.
How the site earns money
Advertising and, where clearly labeled, referral partnerships keep the guides free. Revenue never changes a cost figure, a program rule, or a ranking on this site, because there are no rankings to sell: our tables come from published surveys and government sources you can check yourself. Read how we make money for the details.
How we work
Our research method, source list, and correction policy are public on our how we research page. If you find an error, tell us at contact and we will fix it and note the fix.