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The
strong role of the family in long-term care runs counter to the
myth that American families, who supposedly took care of their
aging relatives at home "in the good old days," are
now "dumping" them in nursing homes. In fact, in the
past, few families cared for an elderly parent because relatively
few people lived long enough to experience a prolonged period
of disability. Because of increased lotngevity, the odds of being
called upon to provide parent care are much higher now than in
the past.
Although
nursing homes serve less than a quarter of the disabled elderly,
they dominate long-term care financing. In 1985 there were 19,100
nursing homes with 1.6 million beds, more beds than in acute
care hospitals. In 1987 dollars, average annual expenditures
for nursing home care for the elderly in 1986-90 are estimated
to be $33 billion. Estimated expenditures for paid home care
are much smaller--only about $8.6 billion in 1986-90--although
nearly twice as many people will be served.
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