The Effects of Long-Term Care on the Quality of Life of the Elderly Essay

The Effects of Long-Term Care on the Quality of Life of the Elderly - Essay Example 1. Long term financial plans to underwrite the costs of LTC in a bid to resolve the problem of poor service delivery due to underfunding. Currently the funding of this sector is very low and with more people requiring such services soon, the system will be overburdened with financial needs. Nearly 70 % of those turning 65 in the year 2006 will need long-term care (LTC) in their lifetimes; 20 percent will need it for five years or longer. (Marcia, Clemmitt, 2006) 2. The staffing needs of the industry will be addressed by this study and thus help to plan staffing and labor related issues. The staffs available to deal with the huge numbers of elderly people are simply not available. An urgent recruitment and retraining of existing staff is necessary to cope with the challenges of new procedures and delivery systems. This issue is all the more acute taking into consideration that the need for caregivers will rise by 39%between 2000 and 2010, yet the population of those that make up the bulk of this workforce(18 – 55 tear old women) will increase by only 1.25%.(Marcia Clemmitt, 2006) 3. The appropriate service delivery systems necessary for the improvement of LTC and the future trends in relation to home and community based care of the elderly. Changing technology and newer treatments make it imperative that the delivery systems be continually updated to keep pace with the new developments. (Robyn I. Stone. 2000) The study will focus on how long term care (LTC) programs can be financed by the state and federal governments. It will identify the sources of income and possibly see how the general public benefitting from home based treatment and institutionalized care may contribute to this effort. The financial plan of this program must be long term in nature to take into consideration the increasing number elderly people that will need such care soon. Public insurance schemes like Medicare have been poorly managed. This study will examine how