According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)’s Administration on Aging (AQA) around 70 percent of people over the age of 65 will require long-term care services at some point in their life. This means they will need assistance with at least two activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, dressing, or bathing. Some may need an even higher level of care such as skilled nursing care. How long will I need help with ADLs or require nursing care? The problem, of course, is that no one can see the future to know if they will be the “average” person, or an exception on either the high or low end. According to the latest AOA research, the average woman needs long-term care services for 3.7 years.

You may have read somewhere before that Long Term Care is truly a woman's issue. It effects all who love the individual needing care but it seems as though the burden fall on women. Despite that fact, long-term care is something few women adequately plan for. Why is long-term care a woman's issue?  Two words; longevity and caregiving. Women live longer than men and have higher rates of disability and chronic health problems. Thus, women are far more likely to need long-term care and many are impoverished as a result. Women are also the caregivers.  When their husbands need long-term care, wives are there.  Unfortunately, because many women are widowed, there is no one there to provide their long-term care?