Assisted Living

The options are the same everywhere, essentially. You can struggle on and do the best you can, and, often, one partner becomes an unpaid carer for the older/sicker partner. Or you can get a bit of home care (hourly care visits), or a lot of home care (a live-in carer). Or you can move into a care home or assisted living facility.

How it differs from country to country is how much these options cost, and how much (if any) aid the state gives you. Spain is cheaper than USA, and more expensive than Bulgaria... but other than that, I don't know how much these options cost in Spain, or how much help you can get from the state.

I also don't know whether state aid is given to any legal resident, or only those that are making social security contributions and are entitled to state healthcare. Even where the state does help, it's often subject to means testing, and many expats probably have too much money to qualify.

I'm currently dealing with this issue, as my father (96 this week, living in the UK) has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We were doing 3 care visits per day (25-30 quid per hour), but with the formal diagnosis, we figured full-time was safer. It is costing us nearly 6,000 euros per month for a live-in carer (from a big care agency). The UK expects you to pay for all your own care unless you have assets less than 25 grand. This means we would have to use (potentially) most of his savings and sell his house. I'm currently trying to convince my brother and sisters to let me take him to Bulgaria, as I can get a live-in carer here for 1,000 euros per month.

Hopefully, Spain is cheaper, and state support is more generous. But I wouldn't count on it!  The best thing is to avoid getting old, or sick. But easier said than done, innit. :-)