HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS
March 16, 2002 - WAR REPORT NUMBER 11-2002
How much do Americans know about long-term care options? Not much. Read on.

I have always maintained that the American people confuse long-term medical care with long-term custodial care in a nursing home. Now the Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI), supports my position. An article appeared in their Health Care Headlines for 12/12/01 titled, "Americans Know Less About Long-Term Care Than They Think," an American Association of Retired People (AARP) survey says. This is the first of two WAR reports, both of which are adapted from the above publication.

More than half of Americans over age 45 say they are "somewhat familiar" with their options for long-term care services, but the majority are uninformed about the cost and funding sources available to such care according to AARP. The study, titled "The Costs of Long-Term Care: Public Perceptions Versus Reality," was based on a telephone survey of 1,800 American adults ages 45 and older conducted from July 20 to August 14, 2001. According to the survey, 60 percent of respondents said they are "somewhat familiar" with their options for long-term care, but only 15 percent could estimate the cost of nursing home care within 20 percent of the national average ($4,654). (In northern Virginia, monthly costs range from $5,000 to $8,000.) Nearly one-fourth said they did not know the cost, and 51 percent underestimated nursing home care costs. Thirty-one percent of those polled said they had insurance that would cover the cost of a long-term stay in a nursing home. However, the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) estimates that just 6 percent of Americans have purchased long term care insurance policies. Although Medicare does not cover long-term stays at nursing homes, more than half of respondents, including those who say they are "very familiar" with long- term care, believe that Medicare will cover the cost of a long-term stay, and about 25 percent say they would rely on the program to pay for such care.
To be continued.

Stay tuned! Why? Because I tell it like it is and it's your money.

God Bless America.