This paper states that concerns about anticipated demographic changes are escalating the financing
problem of long-term care
for the elderly. The author relates that
nursing home care costs can average approximately fifty-five thousand dollars annually per person with many nursing home residents paying the bulk of the rates out of their own pockets. The author believes that a legitimate solution to resolve the problem is to go to a single payer national health
insurance program, a single government fund within each state, which pays hospitals, physicians and other health care providers.