Once again, thank you, Dear Abby, for giving me additional blog fodder. In Sunday, September 9, 2013’s column, “Mom is caregiver, referee between husband, sons”, a tragic situation in which Mom is the primary caregiver is described. The husband is 99% bed-bound with multiple sclerosis, one son is bipolar and the other has Asperger’s. Both sons have behavioral problems that infuriate their bitter and angry father who tells them that he would hit them if he could. Needless to say, this verbal abuse just increases Mom’s stress.

What a horrible situation!! Imagine how much this family could have benefited from reasonably priced long-term care insurance! The policy would have provided funds to cover some if not all of the cost of a full-time caregiver for Dad and taken a huge load off Mom. Consequently, she could put more energy into caring for her sons.

Please note: the father described must be relatively young. While most long-term care claims come late in life, younger people often file claim on long-term care insurance policies. This is just one reason why it doesn’t make sense to wait to buy long-term care insurance.

I wish I could say that this situation is unusual, but since the odds of needing long-term care are nearly 70% for people over 65, I hear about comparable predicaments almost every day. And until the American public takes these odds seriously – and plans accordingly – we will all continue to read such stories or worse, find ourselves living a similar nightmare.