Financing long-term care for elderly persons: what are the options?

Faced with the growing elderly population, the United States is forced to address the financing of long-term care for elderly persons. Long-term care is currently financed through private payments, long-term care insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. Because of concern over the large amount of private and public funding of long-term care, various groups have suggested alternatives to the current approach to long-term care financing. The alternatives include social insurance and joint private-public arrangements.