Financial Preparedness for Long-Term Care Needs in Old Age

Abstract

Asserts that long-term care often is called the largest uninsured risk faced by the older population. Public strategies for financing the costs associated with disability care in old age have been seriously discussed since the 1980s, when the oldest members of the baby boom generation were still 30 years from retirement. Recent public policy on long-term care financing has had two themes: Promoting private financial preparedness and limiting access to Medicaid, the federal-state welfare program that is the largest public payer for long-term care. The centerpiece in the efforts has been encouraging purchase of private long-term care insurance (LTCI), seemingly a comfortable financing model, given the dominance of private medical insurance in the acute healthcare system. Long-term care and disability risks, private financing options, barriers to prefunded options, policy options for increasing private preparations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)