The frail elderly, the challenge to long-term-care management.

Introduction

The existing literature on long-term care in the United States documents seemingly contradictory problems. Some older people receive overly-intensive

services that waste the taxpayer's money. At the same time, other elderly people are denied assistance that could improve their ability to function independently. Current financing arrangements, which divide responsibility almost evenly between public and private sectors, provide a basis for critics with differing social philosophies to argue that there is either too much or too little government effort.

This article examines the problems associated with the current ...