Utah · Long-Term Care Planning · 2026
Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) in Utah (2026): Entrance Fees, Contract Types & What to Check Before You Sign
One campus, every level of care — in exchange for one of the largest checks most retirees will ever write. Here's how to evaluate it.
The bottom line
- A CCRC bundles independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing on one campus — you buy in once and move between levels as needs change.
- The national average entrance fee is about $402,000 (range: ~$40,000 to over $2 million), plus a monthly fee that averaged $3,555 and typically rises ~2% a year (NIC data, reported by AARP).
- Utah licenses CCRC providers through the Utah Insurance Department under the Continuing Care Provider Act (Utah Code 31A-44) — and providers must give you a disclosure statement.
- The contract type (A, B, or C) decides who carries future care-cost risk — and GAO found residents can lose part or all of an entrance fee if a community fails, so financial due diligence matters as much as the tour.
Most long-term care planning is about paying for care wherever you happen to live. A continuing care retirement community (CCRC) flips that: you move to the care. One campus offers independent living now, assisted living if you need help later, and skilled nursing after that — so you (or a healthy spouse) never face a scramble to find the next place. The price of that certainty is a large entrance fee, a monthly fee, and a long contract that deserves the same scrutiny you'd give any six-figure financial decision. Here's how CCRCs work, what they cost, how Utah regulates them, and what to check before you sign.
What exactly is a CCRC?
The Utah Insurance Department defines a CCRC as "a facility that combines independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing home arrangements," offering "a tiered approach to the aging process" that accommodates residents' changing needs. In plain English: it's a campus you enter while you're still independent, with a contractual promise of access to higher levels of care — usually in exchange for an entrance fee and ongoing monthly fees. The industry increasingly calls these life-plan communities; the contract and the economics are the same.
That contractual promise is what separates a CCRC from simply renting in a nice independent-living building. It's also why the contract — not the model apartment — is the thing to study.
What does a CCRC cost?
Two numbers drive the economics: the entrance fee and the monthly fee.
Sources: AARP, "Learn About Continuing Care Retirement Communities," reporting National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) data — aarp.org; U.S. Administration for Community Living — acl.gov.
How does the monthly fee compare with what care already costs in Utah? Here's the picture — note the CCRC figure is a national average for residents entering at independent living, while the Utah figures are the market cost of each care setting on its own:
Monthly cost comparison. Sources: NIC data reported by AARP (CCRC national average, Q3 2021); CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2024 — Utah — carescout.com/cost-of-care.
The three contract types — and who carries the risk
CCRCs generally offer three contract structures. AARP and GAO describe them the same way; the labels are industry-standard:
| Contract | Entrance fee | When you need more care | Who carries the risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type A — Extensive (life care) | Highest entrance fee | Little or no increase when you move to higher care | The community absorbs most future care-cost risk |
| Type B — Modified | Mid-range entrance fee | A set allotment of care is included; you pay more after it's used | Risk is shared between you and the community |
| Type C — Fee-for-service | Lower entrance fee | You pay market rates for assisted living or nursing care when needed | You keep most of the care-cost risk |
Sources: AARP — Continuing Care Retirement Communities; U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-10-611 — gao.gov/products/gao-10-611.
A Type A ("life care") contract works a bit like insurance: you pay more up front so your monthly cost stays roughly level even if you eventually need years of skilled nursing. Type C keeps your buy-in lower but leaves you paying Utah market rates — the $8,000–$10,600-a-month nursing figures above — if heavy care is ever needed. Type B splits the difference. None of these is automatically better; they're different answers to the question "who pays if I need a lot of care?"
Refunds: the fine print that decides what your family gets back
Entrance-fee refund terms vary as much as the fees themselves. GAO's industry review found four common structures: fully refundable fees (more expensive up front, full return to you or your estate), partially refundable fees (a set percentage back within time limits), declining-scale fees (the refund shrinks by a percentage each month or year), and fees that are non-refundable after a set period. Which one you have determines whether a move-out, a death soon after move-in, or a change of heart returns six figures to your family — or nothing.
One more GAO warning worth quoting plainly: where a community fails financially, residents "can lose all or part of their entrance fee." CCRC failures are not common, but they happened in the wake of 2008–2009, which is what prompted the GAO study and, later, state licensing laws like Utah's.
How Utah regulates CCRCs
Utah licenses continuing care providers through the Utah Insurance Department under the Continuing Care Provider Act (Utah Code 31A-44) and Rule R590-273. Two things every Utah shopper should know about that oversight:
1. Providers must give you a disclosure statement
Licensed providers file a disclosure statement covering the community and its finances. Ask for it by name, along with audited financial statements and the community's occupancy rate. A community that hesitates to hand these over is telling you something.
2. The Insurance Department's oversight is financial — not quality-of-care
The statute is explicit that the department "may not regulate, or in any manner inquire into, the quality of care provided in a facility." Care quality in the assisted-living and nursing components is licensed separately by Utah's health licensing agency, and nursing facilities show up in Medicare's Care Compare tool. So diligence is a two-track job: financial strength through the Insurance Department filings, care quality through health-facility records and inspections — plus your own repeated visits.
Does Medicare, Medicaid, or LTC insurance help pay?
Medicare: no for the entrance fee and monthly fees, and no for ongoing custodial care anywhere — including inside a CCRC. It covers short-term skilled care (up to about 100 days in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay), which can apply to a CCRC's nursing unit the same as any other Medicare-certified facility. See Medicare.gov.
Long-term care insurance: some policies reimburse the care portion of CCRC charges (assisted living or nursing care) once you meet the benefit triggers — typically needing help with two activities of daily living. The entrance fee itself is generally not a covered expense. If you own a policy, get the insurer's answer in writing before you sign a CCRC contract.
Medicaid: some CCRC nursing units accept Medicaid and some do not — and the contract may require you to demonstrate assets sufficient to avoid ever needing it. Ask directly. Program details at Medicaid.gov.
Questions to ask before you sign
Take these to the marketing office — and to your own attorney and planner:
Money: Which contract type is this — A, B, or C? Exactly how is the entrance-fee refund calculated, and what does my estate receive? What have monthly-fee increases been each year for the past ten years? May I see the disclosure statement and audited financials filed with the Utah Insurance Department?
Care: What triggers a move from independent living to assisted living or nursing — and who decides? Is there a bed guarantee in the nursing unit, or can I be moved off campus? What happens to a healthy spouse's fees when one of us moves to a higher level of care?
Worst cases: What happens if I outlive my savings — is there a benevolence fund, or can I be asked to leave? What happened to residents' contracts the last time the community changed ownership?
A CCRC entrance fee, long-term care insurance, a hybrid policy, and guaranteed income can each fund the same future care need — with very different effects on your estate. We help Utah families run the comparison in plain English, with no pressure.
Talk it through with a planner →Frequently asked questions
What is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC)?
A CCRC — sometimes called a life-plan community — combines independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care on one campus. You typically pay an entrance fee plus a monthly fee, and can move to higher levels of care on the same campus as your needs change. That's the definition the Utah Insurance Department uses for the communities it licenses.
How much does a CCRC cost?
Nationally, the average entrance fee is about $402,000, with fees ranging from roughly $40,000 to more than $2 million, according to NIC data reported by AARP. On top of that, residents pay a monthly fee — the national average was $3,555 in late 2021 (NIC), and monthly fees typically rise about 2% a year. Exact pricing in Utah varies community by community, so always request the full fee schedule and disclosure statement.
Are CCRC entrance fees refundable?
It depends entirely on the contract. GAO's review of the industry found four common structures: fully refundable, partially refundable, declining-scale (the refund shrinks over time), and non-refundable after a set period. The refund terms — including whether your estate gets anything back — should be spelled out in writing before you sign.
Who regulates CCRCs in Utah?
The Utah Insurance Department licenses continuing care providers under the Continuing Care Provider Act (Utah Code 31A-44) and Rule R590-273. Providers must file a disclosure statement. The Insurance Department's oversight is financial — it does not regulate quality of care; the assisted-living and nursing components are licensed separately by Utah's health licensing agency.
Does Medicare or long-term care insurance pay CCRC fees?
Medicare does not pay entrance fees or ongoing custodial care — it covers only short-term skilled care, such as up to about 100 days in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay. Some long-term care insurance policies can reimburse the care portion of CCRC charges once you meet the policy's benefit triggers; whether yours does depends on the policy language.
Sources
- Utah Insurance Department — Continuing Care Retirement Community licensing: insurance.utah.gov/licensees/ccrc
- Utah Code 31A-44 — Continuing Care Provider Act: le.utah.gov
- AARP — Learn About Continuing Care Retirement Communities (NIC fee data): aarp.org
- U.S. Government Accountability Office — GAO-10-611, "Continuing Care Retirement Communities Can Provide Benefits, but Not Without Some Risk" (2010): gao.gov/products/gao-10-611
- CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2024 — Utah: carescout.com/cost-of-care
- U.S. Administration for Community Living — how much care you'll need: acl.gov
- What Medicare covers: Medicare.gov · Medicaid program details: Medicaid.gov
About this article. Written by the Utah Retirement Income Data Desk and reviewed by Brian Penner, Retirement income & long-term care planner. Educational only — not financial, tax, or legal advice; consult an elder-law attorney before signing a CCRC contract. Utah Retirement Income is a licensed independent insurance agency (NPN 16493717) and is not connected with any government agency. Insurance and annuity guarantees are subject to the claims-paying ability of the issuing company; product availability and rates vary.