A new study has found that median bill for a private room in a nursing home could cost about $91,250 a year. It means that the steep cost of caring for elderly continues to climb. An annual report, Cost of Care, from Genworth Financial figured out the rise in cost for long-term care.

As per the report, the cost of staying at a nursing home for a long time has increased about 4% every year over the last half decade. Today, the cost of a private room in a nursing home costs about $91,250 a year, while last year, it was $87,600.

While talking about the rising median bill, Joe Caldwell, Director of long-term services at the National Council on Aging, said that most of the people do not know about the expensive care until an individual needs it. The cost of median bill is really shocking.

Genworth sells policies to cover long-term care. Its annual report tracked costs for a number of services, including adult daycare, and home health aides. According to the report, nursing home bills have been rising at the fastest pace. It is twice the rate of United States inflation over the last five years, the report further stated. Today, one year bill for staying in a nursing home could cost about as much as three years of tuition at a private college.

While preparing the report, Genworth reviewed about 15,000 nursing homes across the country in January and February. As per reports, there was a huge difference from state to state. In Oklahoma, the median bill for one year in nursing home costs $60,225, while in Connecticut, it was $158,775. Alaska had the highest costs. There, the median bill for one year in nursing home costs $281,415.

Bruce Chernoff, president and CEO of The Scan Foundation, said, “A lot of people believe Medicare will step in and cover them, but that's just not true. Medicare will cover some short visits for recovery after a surgery, for instance, but not long-term stays”.