What Resources Do Retirees Have for Long-Term Services & Supports?

The potential need for long-term services and supports (LTSS) can be a significant source of anxiety for older workers, retirees, and their families. A central question driving this anxiety is whether the support that retirees might need can be met without exhausting their financial resources and family caregivers. The first brief in this three-part series concluded that about 20 percent of retirees will escape the need for LTSS and 80 percent will need at least a year of part-time support – with around a quarter requiring full-time support for several years. This brief, the second in the series, explores the extent to which retirees’ financial and non-financial resources together could meet different levels of care needs. The discussion proceeds as follows. The first section provides an overview of the types of care older adults typically receive. The second section explains the methodology for estimating the support that various family members and financial resources can provide. The third section describes the results, and reports that, at age 65, only about one-fifth of retirees have the family and financial resources to cover high intensity care for at least three years and about onethird do not have any resources at all. The remaining half of older adults lie somewhere in between. As one would expect, resources vary by marital status, education, and race. The concluding section looks ahead to the final brief, which will consider both the risk of needing support and the resources available to identify the types of people who are most likely to face unmet needs.