Caring for the Disabled Elderly

Caring for the Disabled Elderly analyzes the major options for reforming the way long-term care is financed. It first explores the potential market for private long-term care insurance and other private sector initiatives. Then it turns to the advantages and disadvantages of various public sector programs. The study recommends both a greatly expanded role for the private sector in financing long-term care and a new public insurance program.

Alice M. Rivlin is a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and visiting professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute. She has been director of both the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, and has served as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Among her previous books is Beyond the Dot.coms: The Economic Promise of the Internet (Brookings, 2001), written with Robert Litan. Joshua M. Wiener is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings. He is the coauthor of Sharing the Burden: Strategies for Public and Private Long-Term Care Insurance (Brookings, 1994). Raymond J. Hanley and Denise A. Spence are senior research analysts at the Brookings Institution.