List of Problems Facing the Future of Long-Term Care:

1. The ranks of the elderly are growing larger. The population of elderly over 65 will double from about 37 million people today to about 77 million people in 2035, 30 years from now. Based on current estimates of the rate of long-term care this means that in 30 years about 17 million elderly Americans will be receiving long-term care.
2. The number of overweight and obese people in the United States is increasing dramatically. Obesity is a major contributor to disability and poor health in the elderly. Estimates are that the effects of obesity will increase nursing home enrollments by an additional 15% to 20% by the year 2020.
3. The older the person, the more likely the risk of onset of dementia. The Alzheimer's Association estimates about 46% of people over the age of 85 have dementia or Alzheimer's.
4. It is estimated that 6 out of 10 people will need long-term care sometime during their lifetime.
5. With a large and growing number of single person households there is no spouse and oftentimes no children to provide care. About 40% of the population is single.
6. The birthrate is going down, families are getting smaller. The combination of fewer children, the increasing number of single person households and a growing number of elderly will eventually create a situation where there are more people needing care than there are available family caregivers.
7. Out of approximately 116 million women in this country who could be employed in the workforce, about 60% or 69 million are employed. With women being the traditional caregivers, this means only about 40% of traditional caregivers are at home and able to provide long-term care for loved ones without having to juggle a work schedule as well.
8. Children are moving far away or the elderly are relocating after retirement and this makes it difficult or impossible to provide the resulting long-distance caregiving.
9. The number of elderly as a percent of the population is growing larger putting a burden on the tax base and availability of money for government programs and the availability of younger caregivers. Over the next 50 years the elderly will grow from about 12% of the population to over 20% of the population.
10. Medical science is preventing early sudden deaths. This results in a prolonged life with impaired health and a higher potential need for long-term care.
11. Government programs are already stretched thin for long-term care services and will experience even greater stress on available funds in the future.
12. The government does not seem inclined to provide a national long-term care insurance plan.
13. There is a worldwide trend, in all major industrial countries, to not deal with the problem of long-term care and very few countries, including the United States , have taken the initiative to adequately address the problem.
14. Most healthy people in their 50s and early 60s prefer to ignore this future problem and their lack of planning will further burden public programs in the future.

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