ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Will You Need Long-Term Care? For How Long?

Updated on: August 17th, 2022

It is impossible to predict your individual chances of needing long-term care. For some, the need may follow a major illness, while for others the need may evolve more gradually. Some may require many years of long-term care, while others might need services for only a matter of months.

The following chart outlines the probability of an individual being admitted to a nursing home at age 65.

Nursing Home Stay of: Chances for Men Chances for Women
0 – 3 months 11% 11%
3–12 months 8% 10%
1– 5 years 10% 18%
More than 5 years 4% 13%
Of any duration 33% 52%

Please note that these figures do not include people who require home or community-based long-term care services. There are a large number of different services that are available to you in your home which can allow you to “age in place” and never have to move into a nursing home. The above statistics also do not reflect the fact that as lifestyle and medical advancements allow people to live longer, more people will need long-term care. Therefore, your actual probability of needing at least some type of long-term care during your life is probably higher than these numbers suggest.

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