Seventy-five per cent of people 65 years and older will eventually need long term care, and yet a startling number of those people don’t have long term care insurance.
"The chief finding of the Long Term Care Commission is that the long term care system in Hawaii is broken. But there’s worse news. It’s about to get worse," says Stuart Ho of the Long Term Care Commission.
A graph created by the commission gives a dramatic depiction of what the future holds.
"You take a look at the over-75 population. It’s beginning to rise rapidly and the population from which caregivers are drawn is beginning to decline. So you have this divergence of trend lines, and what it means is that if you think long term care is a problem today, it’s about to get a lot worse."
Another commission member says it’s important for younger people to understand how important it is to start planning for their long term future.
"(Young people should) not wait until they’re 60 or 62 or 65…. All that planning has to take place along with other plans for their lives," said Sister Angelle, from the Commission.
If you doubt the importance of long term care insurance, consider this: the average stay in a nursing home costs more than $80,000 a year. That’s all the more reason to consider insurance when you’re younger.
"I believe that it won’t be that simple to purchase long term care insurance as it stands right now, and my understanding is that very few people actually have purchased it."
Commission members believe the legislature must pay attention to the report.
"The state doesn’t have the money, the feds don’t have the money, so where’s it going to come from? We address that issue," said Ho.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
