I really wonder about it for those who can afford it.. You get your meals and activities. Medication management costs extra. Assistance bathing, dressing and toileting on their schedule? When you call for assistance? I don't know. Seems if someone needs assistance with those things they most likely have other medical conditions (or will very soon!) that would require more care than AL can provide. Seems like a high end very expensive motel that you have to actually be pretty healthy to benefit from and just need relief from cooking and home maintenence.
Maybe I'm incorrect in my thinking....
A nursing home or memory care is for people who need skilled nursing care or cannot be left alone for a moment. These people cannot manage their own ADL's at all. There's a difference between the two.
I was a staff supervisor at a very nice AL some years back. This place was most certainly not like a nursing home or memory care. Some of the residents still had cars. It was more like a high-end hotel. We had residents who moved in because their spouses died and they didn't want to live alone. Or they couldn't entirely manage being on their own. Some had a form of dementia, but when it progressed they had to move elsewhere. Same with medical conditions. You had to be mobile to have residence. Using a cane was fine, but if a walker or wheelchair became neccessary, you had to move into higher care.
We had many residents who had been living with us for years. The less time someone has to spend in a nursing home or memory care the better. AL is the go-between of these things.
I don't think AL charge too much for the extra services but I do think they charge too much for the basic 'rent'.
Furthermore, they were never treated as if they were a nuisance but as loved members of the AL. I thank God for the care they were given.
I’ve seen the memes comparing assisted livings to high-end hotel service. If you are well-off, need no physical assistance, and are still possessing full mental acuity, indeed, the hotel may be the better choice.
Both my mother and older sister were in assisted livings for a time. In my sister’s case, at age 65 and fully capable of making her own decisions, she had become disabled - paralyzed from a lower back injury. The assisted living got her out of bed in the morning, in bed at night, and helped with all normal daily life activities. She, and other younger residents, still worked jobs.
My mother, however, was elderly and failing. The assisted living evaluation said she honestly should have gone right into memory care, but they were a kind and understanding place, and so she had a nice small apartment in the (less expensive) assisted living side mainly so she could keep her cat with her. They helped with whatever she could not do, Yes, the price scale slides upwards as needs increased. But they were marvelous, and gave me great peace of mind knowing she had 24/7 help available.