Think about this.
4 out of 5 persons over age 65 will require some personal care and support with basic activities of daily living in their remaining years.
Most persons are totally in denial and unprepared for the financial requirements of that care.
In the US, the cost of one year in a nursing home is about US$108,000. Outrageous cost in a system focused on profit and not compassion.
So those costs are not affordable by about 90% of the population.
In Canada, the average nursing home costs about $25,000 per year.
The problem is that access to those nursing home beds is limited to few.
And the wait list can be 5 to 8 years.
Homecare might be an option. But government funding for homecare is limited to a small percentage of what is really needed.
Providing 24*7 care at home is going to cost the individual over $20,000 per month.
Not affordable by over 95% of the population.
So what is the answer?
Some US states are starting to create dedicated pools of capital that will be dedicated to funding long term care.
This is complex to set up and operate.
Some church groups have set up self insurance schemes that are operating. Likely not scalable.
Private insurers failed with long term care and have exited the marketplace.
Remaining insured products are limited in scope and scale.
So the job of creating long term care funding schemes is way beyond our current ability to conceptualize a solution or solutions.
But we better start to Think Bigger (Iyengar) and Think More Creatively about how to fund long term care or else.