Dear Reader,

Please take a minute to answer these four questions:

1. Have you thought about the possibility that you may need senior care as you grow older?

2. If yes, are you aware of the various senior care options that you may need and that are available to you?

3. If yes again, have you begun planning for your and your family members’ senior care?

4. Do you know what these options may cost you (and your older adult parents) as you both get older and, hopefully not, become infirm?

If you answered YES to just one of these questions, consider yourself in a minority.
According to a 2009 study carried out by the Boomer Project* for Home Instead** a majority of the respondentsqueried queried (a whopping 73 per cent of the adult children, i.e., Baby Boomers)  said they have neither thought about nor planned for the kinds of the care they may need as they grow older.

More disturbing: 50% of the seniors surveyed indicated that they have neither thought about nor planned for their own future care needs.

The survey revealed that most respondents:
• Knew little about the care options available to them,
• Were ‘misguided’ about the cost of these options, and
• Were ‘poorly informed’ about how they will pay foror how much these options will cost them.

Most believe that their social security and Medicare benefits will be sufficient to cover these expenses. Only 18 per cent of the adult children cited long-term care insurance as a possible source for financing their future care needs. And only 21 per cent of the seniors surveyed could name long-term care as a potential financial resource.

These findings were so alarming (to us, at least) that we plan to devote the next two blog posts to information that emerged from this survey. Stay tuned.

Sig Cohen

* The Boomer Project provides market research and strategic consulting to corporations, industry associations, civic and non-profit organizations.

** Home Instead Senior Care is a U.S. based international franchise network that provides high quality non-medical senior home care. It consists of more than 875 locally owned and operated offices that help seniors and their families through the home care stage of aging.