Long-term care has been and remains the distant cousin of health policy. Newspapers are full of commentary on what 2008 presidential candidates have to say about “universal health coverage,” the new expression for what used to be called national health insurance. However, one would be hard-pressed to describe what any of them think about long-term care. Th e discussion of how America is aging touches on familiar themes: the pressure on the Medicare budget, the implications for Social Security pensions, and whether the savings or the sports behavior of baby boomers is adequate for their future. It is hard to avoid endless comments on which diet should be.
