Type A, B and C contracts: what each means for the cost of care later

A continuing care retirement community (also sold as a life plan community) sells two things at once: a place to live now, and a promise about care later. The contract type describes the second part. It decides what you pay if you move to assisted living, memory care or nursing, which for many residents is where most of the money goes.

Communities name their contracts however they like (Lifecare, Life-Care, Residence and Care Agreement, Fee for Service), and a name is not a promise. We sort every contract by how the filing says later care is priced:

• Type A (life care). Moving to assisted living or nursing leaves your monthly fee essentially unchanged.
• Type B (modified). A set number of care days is included, or care is charged at a stated discount.
• Type C (fee for service). Care is charged at market rates when you need it.
• Rental. No entrance fee and no promise of future care.
• Equity. You buy your unit.

What each type costs going in, from the filings we have read

The figures below are the lowest and highest one-person entrance fees listed under each contract type across the 117 communities on this site, recalculated every time the data changes. Each community page cites the page the price came from.

• Type A (life care): offered by 31 of 117; across the 29 that list prices for it, entrance fees from $77,476 (Goodwin House Alexandria) to $4,783,800 (The Mather).
• Type B (modified): offered by 65 of 117; across the 52 that list prices for it, entrance fees from $8,000 (Windsor Point) to $4,783,800 (The Mather).
• Type C (fee for service): offered by 46 of 117; across the 46 that list prices for it, entrance fees from $3,500 (Pittsboro Christian Village) to $1,906,566 (Bridgewater Retirement Community).
• Equity: offered by 5 of 117; across the 1 that list prices for it, purchase prices from $588,430 (Legacy at Mills River) to $1,940,885 (Legacy at Mills River).

Where a filing prices the same unit and refund plan under life care and under another contract, the life-care price is higher in 439 of 445 cases, because that entrance fee partly prepays care. Some prices in these ranges are not entrance fees in the usual sense (a rental community’s community fee, a life-care upgrade sold on top of a purchase); the community page shows what each one is. Whether that prepayment pays off depends on how long you end up needing care, which nobody knows when signing.

What to check in the contract itself

• Whether the monthly fee really stays the same on moving to nursing, or only “plus meals” or “plus a care charge”.
• For Type B, how many days are included, whether they reset each year, and what the discount is measured from.
• Whether residents get priority for a bed, and what happens if the nursing center is full (some contracts send you off campus at your own cost).
• Whether a couple can be split across levels of care, and what the second person then pays.

Every community page on this site sets out these terms per contract under “What care costs later”, cited to the agreement.