As populations age over the next several decades, the demand for long-term care (LTC) services (assisting individuals with their activities of daily life) will increase dramatically and is likely to reach crisis levels in many countries. Societies will have to confront this emerging need because historical methods for providing and financing LTC may not be adequate to address future LTC needs.
The primary objective of this paper is to provide information concerning some of the key issues associated with LTC, including: (1) the future use of LTC services, (2) alternative benefit designs and their resulting incentives, (3) a range of approaches used around the world to provide LTC services and (4) methods of financing LTC services and mitigating costs by the individual, community, private sector and governments. This presentation is particularly important, as there are significant differences throughout the world in how LTC is treated.