Raising Awareness About Long-Term Care

Despite rising long-term care (LTC) costs, fewer Americans are planning for future LTC expenses today than roughly a decade ago, according to a recent survey of 1000 adults, ages 21 to 75.

The June survey, by the research firm Greenwald & Associates, was commissioned by the John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which has commissioned similar long-term care surveys in previous years. Though 64% of survey respondents said they expected to live to age 85, only 51% said they were concerned about needing LTC as they grew older. By comparison, nearly 60% of those participating in a similar survey in 1997 said they expected they would eventually need long-term care. In addition, nearly 70% of respondents in the new survey said they’d done “little or no planning” for LTC, as compared with 49% in 1997. This was despite the fact that many were pessimistic about the future health of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
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This apparent lack of concern about LTC planning has, of course, been cause for concern in both long-term care and policy circles. In response to this concern, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) last year launched the first phase of a campaign to raise awareness—among retirees and near-retirees in particular—of the importance of planning for future long-term care needs. (Increased private financing of long-term care is a priority in Washington because it would, among other things, lessen the burden on public coffers.)

The DHHS recently published the results of the first phase of the campaign, and these were quite encouraging. Phase I of the campaign, dubbed “Own Your Future,” targeted five states: Arkansas, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, and Virginia. In each of these states, every household that included an adult between the ages of 50 and 70 received a letter and brochure concerning long-term care and a toll-free number they could call to get a free “Long-Term Care Planning Kit.” These households also received follow-up postcards reminding them of the planning kit. In addition, paid radio or television ads concerning long-term care planning were broadcast in each of the five states.

Though DHHS expected about 5% of recipients to order planning kits—about average for this kind of marketing campaign—the five-state average was nearly 8%. In Virginia it was 9.1%. (For the full DHHS report, visit aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/ 2006/ltcaware1.pdf.) Clearly, a little encouragement to think about planning for future LTC needs can go a long way. We in the field can help it go further. Relatives and friends of older adults already in long-term care are probably more amenable to LTC planning than most; they know firsthand the importance of planning ahead.

Making information about LTC planning available to these individuals makes sense. And it’s easy. You can request a free, one-time bulk order of the DHHS brochure for your facility at https://www.ltcaware.info/materials_request.jsp. Long-Term Care Planning Kits are available as well, at no charge, at www.acl.gov. For more consumer-friendly resources on long-term care, you can also recommend the following site to patients’ relatives and friends: www.medicare.gov.