KFF Health News has partnered with the New York Times on a series of articles about the U.S. public’s awareness of, attitudes about, and experiences with long term care. The series is called Dying Broke. The first article published November 14th in the NYT and by KFF Health News online, details stories about the sacrifices a handful of informal caregivers have made. One of the NYT reporters working on the series said he was “struck by how unaware people are of how much LTC can cost and also by the lack of available help and how it puts family members in a position to have to make tremendous financial and emotional sacrifices.”
As the series unfolds, we expect to see more stories and more details from a KFF poll that informs the articles. Read the sobering first story, “Facing Financial Ruin as Costs Soar for Elder Care” here. The article is a straightforward, factual reporting of something LeadingAge has been saying for a long time – the U.S. has no organized LTC financing or delivery system, and the country spends less than many developed countries in the world.
