Along with Medicare, Social Security, pensions and health care, here's another disaster coming straight at us: long-term health care. Since we're not having much luck solving the other issues, many people and policymakers just prefer to not even think about long-term care -- and that's reflected by the low numbers of people insuring themselves and their family for the very likely visit they will take to a nursing home in old age. Besides, most of us can't afford the coverage or the care itself and are banking on the government to pay for it -- even if we or our loved ones have to spend down their assets first. But Medicaid is already straining and will be unable to absorb the crush of Baby Boomers coming and headed for nursing homes over the next 30 to 40 years.
In a paper entitled Long-term Care Coverage: The Missing Element in the Employee Safety Net the consulting group Milliman suggests that it's time for employers to consider adding long-term care insurance as a benefit -- with some help paying for it.