As the long-standing gap between Americans’ need for long-term care services and the public and private funding available to pay for them grows ever wider, this policy brief from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured examines the fundamentals of private long-term care insurance.

The brief describes the results of a study exploring how consumers buy policies, how much policies cost and how they work, and what regulations exist to protect consumers.  It also discusses some key challenges that policymakers face when considering whether to enlarge the role of private long-term care insurance in financing long-term care.

Also available is related testimony, “Filling In the Long-Term Care Gaps,”  from Diane Rowland, Executive Vice President of the Foundation and the Executive Director of KCMU, who testified June 3 at a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on the role of private insurance in long-term care.

Report

Testimony