Since my insurance won't cover it, I guess Mom would have to

The Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) put out a press release earlier this week on just how vital family members are to each other's long term care. This seems to be less of a "my family would drop everything to help" issue and more of a "well, I don't have adequate insurance for that" issue:

Nearly four in ten Americans say they would turn to family and friends if they were ever to need long-term care services, compared to relatively few who say they plan to rely on insurance or private savings. Conducted by KRC Research between October 27-30, 2006, the survey asked 1,025 adult Americans what they would rely on most if they were ever to become unable to handle some of the basic tasks of daily living, such as bathing, eating and dressing themselves. Here's how the public responded:

Family and friends 39%
Health insurance 18%
Long-term care insurance 15%
Accumulated savings 12%
Government assistance/programs 12%

Notably, the press release did NOT conclude "The fact that only a third of US residents can count on insurance to provide them with needed long-term care is a giant friggin' problem." So I'll let that be my conclusion instead.