The complementarity of public and private long-term care coverage

Discussions about long-term care financing often get mired in the false dichotomy that long-term care should be primarily either a public or a private responsibility. Our starting premise is that public and private long-term care coverage can best serve complementary roles. Therefore, public policy should focus on supporting both mechanisms to achieve efficient and equitable outcomes. The current state of the private long-term care insurance market, and the possible reasons for its modest size, provide a starting point for exploring how public policy might interface more productively with it, in the context of both existing and potential programs, such as the proposed Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act.