Long-term care financing through Federal tax incentives

Congress and the Administration are currently exploring various methods of promoting access to long-term care. In this article, an inventory of recent legislative proposals for using the Federal tax code to expand access to long-term care services is provided. Proposals are arrayed along a functional typology that includes tax mechanisms to encourage accumulation of funds, promote purchase of long-term care insurance, or induce the diversion of funds accumulated for another purpose (such as individual retirement accounts). The proposals are evaluated against the public policy objective of encouraging risk pooling to minimize social cost.