Providing long-term care benefits in cash: moving to a disability model.

This paper examines the role of a disability approach to the allocation of long-term care benefits. It first highlights the important elements of long-term care that support a disability model. It then reviews the advantages and disadvantages of this approach relative to the traditional indemnity model and summarizes key features of selected domestic and international programs that offer a disability-type benefit. The paper identifies and elaborates on the major implementation challenges and concludes with a recommendation for further examination of the costs and benefits of this approach to the public coffers, the private market, and long-term care consumers.