Long-term care cash could be next crisis
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Funding of long-term care is going to be the next public policy crisis, according to independent pension analyst Dr Ros Altmann.
Speaking at the Money Marketing Retirement Planning summit in Dublin, Altmann said the pension saving crisis of today could be seen coming from a long way back but nothing was done for too long. She said that long-term care is going to suffer the same fate.
The same combination of rising longevity is leading to an ever greater demand for care services but Altmann suggests there has been a similar lack of attention in how the country is going to pay for the increased cost of care.
Altmann said: “I see long-term care today where pensions were 10 or 15 years ago. We know the crisis is going to come. What is the plan for it?”
She said the most obvious solution is an insurance-based scheme because, unlike pensions, the need for care is not universal.
“It is much more obvious that, for long-term care, insurance is a more realistic solution because about one in four or one in five people will need it, not everybody, so an insurance solution makes some sense.”
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