If you haven’t already, it is not unlikely that you will one day find yourself caring for an aging, sick relative. Once upon a time, this kind of caregiving was done at home and indeed, when I was a child, many of my friends and playmates helped with that care. “I can’t go to swimming today, Ronni,” they would say. “I have to take care of gramps while mom goes shopping.”

Today, for a variety of reasons, home care is frequently impossible, or impractical, so you will need some form of professional long-term care. And it will not be easy:

“[Long-term care] is the country’s best-kept embarrassing secret. Almost every adult in this country will either enter a nursing home or have to deal with a parent or other relative who does. Few people, however…are prepared to deal with a system that is seriously flawed.”