We know at this point that people aren’t talking about their possible future long-term care needs. But why? Confusion, for one, says renowned gerontologist Ken Dychtwald.
“They just don’t understand it,” Dychtwald told me in a conversation recently. “[They ask] what is long-term care and why is that not covered by Medicare? More than half of boomers think it’s covered by Medicare.”
There are other reasons people don’t want to have the conversation, according to Dychtwald, who has written and spoken about this issue extensively.
These reasons are: Fear (“It’s a frightening subject for people,” he said); mistrust (“People aren’t sure who they can talk to,” according to Dychtald); and denial (“It’s amazing how many people think, ‘It won’t happen to me,’” he remarked).
Long-term care study
A new study touches on some of Dychtwald’s observations. Genworth Financial’s “Our Family, Our Future: The Heart of Long Term Care Planning” found that only 35% of Americans believe they will ever need long-term care. In reality, more than two-thirds of people (70%) over age 65 will actually need long-term care at some point during their lives, Genworth said.
The study, which comprised 2,151 interviews among adults 18 and over in September, also revealed that Americans significantly underestimate the impact that a family member’s long-term care needs could have on their own lives, marriages, work commitments, financial stability and future financial security.
Dychtwald was struck in particular by three of the study’s findings. One of them is that people don’t want to be burdens on their families.
“People are more terrified of this than they are of dying,” he said.
Another is that “uninsured medical costs have become the single biggest worry people have about their retirement,” he said.
“The wildcard, the unpredictability of long-term care, has really caught people’s attention,” he noted.
The third “shocker,” as he called it is, is that people still aren’t having a discussion about planning for long-term care. That talk would focus on preferences for extended care, who in the family or outside would be a part of it, and who would be paying for it.
“By and large, it’s emerging as a topic of concern, but it’s not yet an issue the average person is acting on or planning for,” he said.
The reality is that it still takes a crisis for people to think and talk about long-term care. That mindset needs to change, as the study proves, for the good of those who need it, their families and the healthcare system.
