Kaiser Polls Shows Most Americans Don’t Understand Realities of Long Term Care Financing

From the Kaiser Family Foundation:

As Americans think about paying for long-term care for themselves or their
family members, three in 10 (30%) adults say that they would expect private
insurance to be the main source of funds if they or a family member needed
nursing home care, according to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In
reality, private insurance pays for only a small share of nursing home expenses
(8%), while Medicaid pays nearly half of these costs nationwide

Overall, nearly half (46%) of all Americans say they have had a family member or
close friend in a nursing home in the past three years. Just more than one in
three (35%) people say that nursing homes are doing a “good job” serving
consumers – far fewer than report the same about nurses (84%), doctors (69%) and
hospitals (64%). Nursing homes also rank below pharmaceutical companies (43%)
but just above health insurance companies (34%) and HMOs (30%).

The findings are based on the latest Kaiser Health Poll Report survey, conducted
June 2-5 among a national random sample of 1,202 adults. The margin of sampling
error is ± 3%.

The May/June Featured Topic report analyzes the latest public opinion research
available on people’s experiences and views about nursing homes and long-term
care, including the government’s role in regulating nursing home quality and
their sources of information about nursing homes. The full Featured Topic is
available online <http://www.kff.org/healthpollreport/june_2005/>.

Ed:  Other studies have also documented that Americans don't understand that ordinary
health insurance and Medicare don't cover long term care. 
And for persons with any personal or family history of serious illness
or diasability, purchasing private long term care insurance isn't usually
an affordable option.