Private Capacity to Finance Long-Term Care

This paper considers ways to determine the ability of users to contribute to the costs of their care. When better estimates of the costs of long-term care are known, the figures developed here can be used to indicate where shares of the health expenditure burden could be borne privately by individuals. For this analysis, two groups of households are considered: the elderly and all households reporting having a member with some degree of physical impairment. While many persons 65 and over remain in good health, this group is particularly at risk in terms of someday requiring long-term care services. Families who already have at least one member with some physical impairment are also potential consumers of long-term care. [35 PDF pages]