Although the presidential debates have focused heavily on health care, the topic of long-term care has barely been mentioned. In a recent Perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine, HCP Assistant Professor David G. Stevenson, PhD, underscores the need for such a discussion, especially given the aging US population. Stevenson poses three key questions that must feature in any effort to reform long-term-care policy:

• How should long-term care be viewed within the larger context of the delivery and financing of health care?

• Should long-term-care services that are publicly financed continue to be administered through a welfare-based strategy, or should we move to a more universal approach?

• Should reforms of long-term care place greater emphasis on public programs or private provision?

Calling on the presidential candidates to exercise leadership in the area of long-term care, Stevenson emphasizes the importance of facing these policy challenges. “The economic and personal costs of inaction are substantial,” he says. “Developing effective policy solutions will become more difficult the longer we wait.”