What is Long-Term Care?
Long-Term Care (LTC) is a variety of services and supports to meet health pr personal care needs over an extended period of time. Most long-term care is non-skilled personal care assistance, such as help with personal Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) such as:
- Bathing
- Dressing
- Eating
- Maintaining Continence
- Toileting
- Transferring (to/from a bed or chair)
The goal of long-term care services is to help you maximize your independence and function at a time when you are unable to be fully independent.
Long-term Care Insurance emerged in the 1970’s in response to 3 major risks for all Americans:
- Our aging population: Advances in medicine are allowing people to live longer, leading to the need for more frequent and longer periods of health care as longevity increases.
- Our Changing Family Structure: In previous generations, with large extended families living close by one another, there was an informal care giving structure. Nowadays, in today’s mobile society, family caregivers have become scarce. Even when family caregiver’s are available, the increased emotional and financial strain of long-term caregiving has made family-based care less feasible.
- Our lack of adequate protection: Long-term care is expensive. Home health care, care in an assisted living facility or care in a nursing home cost thousands of dollars per year…possibly hundreds of thousands over the course of an extended period of care.
