According to the latest report of AARP, as the Baby Boomers age and retire, there may be trouble ahead. Most of these individuals seem to falsely think that government assistance will include senior-assisted living facilities.
As AARP indicated in their latest report, these types of misconceptions have not changed in the last five years.
Despite state incentive programs to promote the purchase of long-term care insurance, sales have not increased. Government tax breaks do not seem to be persuading individuals to buy this type of insurance or the word is just not getting out.
Medicaid and Medicare are not programs to help senior citizens with living arrangements in their old age.
Another incentive has failed as well. The Long-Term Care Partnership program offers special long-term care policies to allow the buyers to protect their assets and still qualify for Medicaid when their policy runs out. This program is now being offered to all the states in the country, but sales are still sluggish.
According to David C. Nixon of the University of Hawaii's Public Policy Center, "Unless states enact substantially more generous subsidies and focus the subsidies on more price-conscious potential buyers of insurance, the programs are counterproductive. They draw resources away from state coffers that could be better spent preparing for the approaching long-term care crisis."
