Nancy, The $129 nursing home care rate is state of MN. Rates are set by the state....I believe all nh in the state are on the same scale. Review by state "rater" occurs every 90 days to determine care level cost per individual resident....ranging A (least care) to M or N(totally dependent). Mother is K. at the current time. The increments are in the range of $5-$10 increases....and are very explicit for each level of care...need assistance bathing, eating, transferring bed to wheelchair, dressing etc. The private room rate is about $10 more per day. We first wanted a private room, but have since realized that she does enjoy the company of her friend...and the rooms are generous in size and because of the shape/layout offer some privacy. She does have room for chair/shelving/table from home. NH must have staff to cover each of these needs for each patient also. I am providing this information so that some of you in other states will have some guidelines for constructive issues in your locale. (Keep in mind that MN has for many years had the highest tax rate of any of the 50 states). We paid $149 per day in Indiana....did not include laundry $10/wk....and did not include hair care $7/wk......for private pay individuals. She was able to transfer to and from bed, and go to dining room on her own at that time....However, I believe care was simply based on a semi-private or private room rate in IN and the private rate was about $80 more per day. Medicare will pay for only 90 days per year in nursing home.....with a new diagnosis.....and a recent hospitalization of at least 3 days......Mother has been there for 3 years following stroke/dementia...she received only 30 days of Medicare pay (in her first year) because she was not progressing and PT, OT would goals would not be met. She has never since received Medicare reimbursement for the nh. She is now being treated for blood clot in her leg but will not need 3 day hospital....can be treated at the nursing home (and the change to hosp would be extremely confusing and upsetting for her at this time). She is on "comfort care" which basically hospice. I believe this home has dropped their "daycare" program because of inability to hire staff. The salary rates are a challenge to hiring when unemployment is low. Monthly "family" meetings always include updates for lobbying efforts, hiring efforts etc. As you pointed out in an earlier posting...more training yields higher salary scale...and many of the aide's do go on to a nursing degree etc. Volunteers are not able to fill all of the roles because of a liability issues. Senior citizens are not the answer to part time employment here because of the need to lift patients....driving at night (evening hours are hard to fill with staff). And of course, if the salary goes up the rates go up. We do need to be aware of what the various housing/aide options are within our own states and question the proper regulators/elected officials re: changes that do need to be addressed. Rita 56/11