People not holding enough health insurance for long-term care

A survey by market intelligence company ABI research has found that only 4 per cent of the adult population in the UK have got around to planning properly for finding their long-term care needs, which is especially worrying as around 20 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women are expected to need long-term care at some point in their lives.

The research also showed that about two thirds of adults have not even thought about the costs involved, although 94 per cent of respondents predicted that paying for care home fees would set them back more than GBP10,000 per year.

The Quarterly Consumer Survey by ABI, which covered the last three months of 2010, found that people did realise that the cost of long-term care in retirement will be high, despite few actually putting a plan in place to deal with them.

A fifth of people said they thought they would either not have to move into a care home, and 8 per cent said they believed the state would pay the necessary costs.

A further 17 per cent claimed they had thought about care costs, with 11 per cent depending on the sale of their house, and 2 per cent hoping friends and family would fund their care.