Gender Differences: Do Men and Women View Long-Term Care Differently

Trading Places: Caring for your Parent, Is Long-Term Care the Answer?

Audio Medicaid Estate Recovery Story

Six Out of Every Ten Women Face LTC Crisis

LTC: Studies Show Women Face Potentially Greater Financial Risk

AARP: Women and Long-Term Care

More Articles and Websites

Long-term care is an issue concerning many people today, especially women, since they make up close to 75 percent of nursing home residents. They also represent seven out of ten unpaid caregivers for family members. They should be concerned. We all dislike paying for something that we hope never to use, but if the need arises for LTC, our choices become very limited.

Long-term care insurance should be treated like any other investment. It is designed to protect your assets, preserve your independence, and provide a freedom of choice. It is important for women to plan early so that the high cost of long-term care does not threaten their financial security. Private long-term care insurance can provide a peace of mind to women who can afford to buy it.

Medicare and private medical insurance will not cover the cost of long-term care. It only pays about 7 percent of the cost of care in a nursing home. We tend to believe that a family member will take care of us when the need for LTC arises. This may be true for a short time, but the responsibility soon wears on a caregiver with other responsibilities and the record shows that families are not able to be the primary caregiver for long. For a free Shopper's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance click here.

Long-term care is about dependency. For example, it has been said that with dementia there are two deaths. The first, happening two to three years after diagnosis, is emotional and intellectual; the second, the physical passing, is five or six years later.