States Try Easing the Burden of Long-Term Care’s High Cost
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It’s a retirement concern few of us want to face: At some point, four out of five older Americans will need help with daily needs like bathing, dressing, using the toilet or preparing meals.

Paying for such long-term care presents retirees with difficult choices. Medicare coverage is very limited. Private long-term care insurance policies are complicated and expensive. Medicaid, which insures low-income people, pays for long-term care only when a patient’s assets have been almost completely spent. And many will rely on family members for help.

In Washington, D.C., policymakers and lawmakers have long agreed on the need for a government-sponsored solution — but not how to pay for it

Most people will require some assistance with daily living needs, but the intensity and duration are impossible to predict.

The researchers found that one-fifth of retirees will need no support, but about one-quarter will have severe, and expensive, care needs.

Read more in the New York Times.

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