Many Jolted by Cost of Long-Term Elderly Care

July 23, 2005 — -- When 82-year-old Margaret Joines, suffering from Alzheimer's disease, became bedridden years ago, her daughter Collyn faced an agonizing decision.

"I could never imagine putting her in a facility with strangers," she said.

Instead, Collyn chose to live in the Wilmington, Del., home where she grew up, to care for her mother practically full time. It's meant some missed opportunities, she said, noting she did not get married and have children.

"When you love a person, you do what you have to do," she said. "You just have to make sacrifices."

Currently, roughly 9 million elderly Americans require some kind of long-term care. By 2020, that number will have jumped to 12 million.

It's a subject a lot of people don't like to think about. A recent study found four in 10 Americans don't know what steps to take to prepare for their own long-term care, which can easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"There's a disease in this country called denial," said John Rother, policy director for the AARP.

Perhaps it's because the options are less than ideal.

Long-term health insurance is prohibitively expensive for most Americans, with premiums that can shoot up unexpectedly. And Medicare, which many retirees count on, doesn't cover long-term care.

So the majority in long-term care end up relying on Medicaid, the government's medical assistance program for the nation's poorest residents.

"Generally speaking, you have to impoverish yourself before you're eligible for any services," Rother said. "The United States does not really have a long-term care policy."

Collyn wonders how she'll afford her own long-term care, if she needs it.

"I'm very convinced that the benefits that they have now and have had will not be there by the time I reach that time in my life," she said.

Unlike her mother, Collyn won't have a child to rely on.

ABC News' Nancy Weiner originally reported this story for "World News Tonight."