Can nursing home debt lead to Social Security garnishment?

Nursing home debt can create serious financial challenges, but can it impact your Social Security benefits? Pla2na/Getty Images Many Americans spend decades building a retirement plan around the simple assumption that their monthly Social Security benefits will provide a reliable source of income no matter what happens with their finances or the economy. But as healthcare costs continue to rise and the cost of long-term care , in particular, skyrockets, some retirees are finding themselves with expensive bills for nursing home care that they never anticipated. Few expenses have the potential to disrupt a retirement budget quite like nursing home care, after all. Case in point? The average cost of nursing home care is now $315 per day, or $114,975 annually, according to a recent CareScout Cost of Care Survey — and that's for a semi-private room. A median daily rate for a private room in a nursing home is $355 per day, totaling $129,575 annually. Either amount can be tough to come up with on a fixed budget, though, whether it's for care after a serious illness, a chronic health condition or the challenges of aging. So, even those with substantial savings can find those resources depleted faster than expected. And, as those nursing bills accumulate, it's natural to wonder what happens if they can't be paid, as it's common for debt collectors to use tools like garnishment to collect what's owed. …