Elder Care Cost Planning
Adult day program and respite cost.
Turn a daily fee into monthly and yearly adult day care cost, add transport, meals and overnight respite stays, and see the cost per hour of relief for the caregiver compared with a paid home aide.
Your numbers
Result
Fill the form and press Calculate.
Yearly day program cost = (daily fee + transport + meals) x days a week x weeks attending. At $97 a day, 3 days a week for 52 weeks that is $15,132 a year, or $1,261 a month.
Not financial, legal, insurance or medical advice. This is arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It is not a care assessment, a quote, or a recommendation. Talk to a qualified financial planner, elder law professional, insurance adviser or your care team before you commit money or choose care.
Worked example
$85 a day plus $12 transport is $97 a day. Three days a week for 52 weeks is $15,132.00 a year ($1,261.00 a month) and gives the caregiver 936 hours of relief, or $16.17 per relief hour. Seven respite nights at $200 add $1,400.00, so the total is $16,532.00 a year ($1,377.67 a month). A home aide at $30 an hour for the same 936 hours would cost $28,080.00, so the day program is $12,948.00 lower. These fees are examples, not market prices.
How it works
Cost per program day = daily fee + transport + meals. Day program per year = that x days per week x weeks attending. Respite per year = nights x nightly rate. Relief hours = days x weeks x hours per day. Cost per relief hour = cost per program day / hours per day. The aide comparison = relief hours x aide rate against the day program cost (respite stays are excluded from it).
Public funding by region
Pick a region for a pointer to the official source. These notes do not say what you qualify for or how much it pays.
Sources
- Long-term care in Ontario (ontario.ca), opened 2026-10-08.
- Long Term Care Coverage (Medicare.gov), opened 2026-10-08.
- Money, work, benefits and social care (NHS), opened 2026-10-08.
- My Aged Care (Australian Government), opened via a Web Archive snapshot, opened 2026-10-08.
Arithmetic on the fees you enter. No prices are built in. The funding notes link to official pages only.
FAQ
How much does adult day care cost per month?
Multiply the daily fee plus transport and meals by days per week, by weeks attending, then divide by 12. Fees vary by program and place, so use real quotes.
What is respite care?
Respite care is short-term care that gives the main caregiver a break. It can be a few hours, a day program or an overnight stay. Enter the nights you expect to use per year.
Is a day program cheaper than a home aide?
Per hour of relief it often can be, but only if the numbers say so. Enter an aide rate and the tool compares the two for the same hours.
Does this include subsidies?
No. Subtract any public funding or tax credit from the fees yourself. The funding notes point to official sources by region.
Does Medicare cover adult day care?
Medicare.gov says Medicare does not pay for long-term care. See the funding notes for what the page says about Medicaid in your region.