The survey of 2,218 skilled and intermediate care nursing homes in all 50 states evaluated the cost of assistance in a nursing home with activities for a person suffering a debilitation such as Parkinson's disease.

The national annual average cost of $57,700 represents a 7 percent increase from GE Financial's initial survey conducted in December 2001.

The survey found that costs varied widely, from a low of $69 per day at a nursing home in Oklahoma to a high of $720 per day at a facility in Alaska. Louisiana has the least expensive average annual cost of nursing home care at $35,900, the survey said.

The totals did not include costs for therapy, rehabilitation or medications.

The survey did not measure the cost of assistance provided in the home or other facilities, such as adult day care centers or assisted living facilities.

Evans Research of San Francisco conducted the survey in May 2003. It included 10 percent to 25 percent of the licensed nursing homes in each of the 74 individual areas surveyed, said GE Financial, a unit of General Electric Co. that sells insurance and reinsurance products, including long-term care coverage.

Source: Yahoo News: Reuters Health.