16 questions to ask a memory-care facility about cost

How to use this list

A tour shows you the dining room. It does not show you the bill three years from now. These sixteen questions are about money and about staying, and they sit alongside the questions about care and staff that the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institute on Aging suggest.

Send them by email after the visit, and ask for the answers in writing. Then ask two or three facilities the same questions, so the answers can be compared.

The monthly bill

1. What would the full monthly cost be for my parent today, at the care level they need? Not the starting rate. The whole figure.
2. What is included, and what is billed separately? Ask about medication management, incontinence supplies, laundry, and being taken to appointments.
3. How is the care level decided, how often is it reviewed, and what does each level cost? A change of level can raise the bill in the middle of a year.
4. Is there a one-time move-in or community fee, and is any of it refundable?
5. What deposit is required, and what is the refund policy if my parent moves out or dies? State law may speak to this. In Florida, for example, the statute on assisted living contracts requires a refund policy in the contract.

For a point of comparison, the national median for an assisted living community was $6,200 a month in 2025, in the CareScout Cost of Care Survey.

Rate increases

6. How much did the monthly rate go up in each of the last three years? Ask for the percentages. The same survey found the national median rose 5 percent in 2025, after a double-digit rise the year before, so one year is not a pattern.
7. When do rates change, and how much written notice do you give? In Florida, the contract must provide for at least 30 days' written notice of a rate increase. Ask what your state requires and what this contract says.
8. Can any charge change between the yearly increases?

Medicaid

Ask these even if your parent has plenty of savings today. The Alzheimer's Association puts it directly: if you are paying privately, ask what happens if the person runs out of money, and note that some communities accept Medicaid and others do not.

9. Do you accept Medicaid?
10. If so, after how long of paying privately?
11. Is a Medicaid place guaranteed for a resident who has paid privately, or does it depend on what is available at the time?
12. If my parent's money runs out and you do not accept Medicaid, what happens?

What can happen when the money runs out depends heavily on these four answers.

Being asked to leave

13. Under what conditions can you ask a resident to leave? The Alzheimer's Association suggests asking about the discharge policy, including changes in behavior and in finances.
14. How much notice do you give, and what help do you give with finding somewhere else?

If the facility is a nursing home that takes part in Medicare or Medicaid, a federal rule answers some of this already. It limits the reasons for discharge and requires written notice at least 30 days ahead in most cases. Assisted living and memory care units are regulated by each state, so there the contract and state law decide.

The contract

15. May I take the contract home and have an attorney read it before we sign? The National Institute on Aging's advice is to read the contract carefully and to read it again before signing. The Alzheimer's Association adds that if Medicaid may be needed, now or later, it is worth consulting an elder-law attorney before moving in.
16. Who is responsible for paying: my parent, or am I being asked to sign as well? Read any line that makes a family member personally responsible very carefully. For nursing homes, the federal rule says a facility "must not request or require a third party guarantee of payment" as a condition of admission or of staying.

After the visit

• Put the full monthly cost and the yearly increase into your plan, and see what they do to the number of months.
• If an answer is vague, ask again. If it stays vague, your state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman can tell you what residents' rights are where you live.
• Keep the written answers with the contract.