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