Ageing, Disability and Long-Term Care Burden in Latin America and the Caribbean Countries

Malena Monteverde, Northwestern University
Kenya V. Noronha, Northwestern University
Karina Angeletti, Universidad de la Plata

Assessing the effects of ageing on the magnitude of long-term care costs in Latin American is important due to the specific characteristics of the ageing process in those countries. We focus on informal and formal in-home care and nursing home services in Buenos Aires, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Expected costs over the lifetime after age 60 for males and females are estimated combining expected durations in states of disability and the costs of services associated with those states. Puerto Rico has the highest long-term care costs due to higher unit costs of services, higher prevalence of dependence and a more aged population. The relative costs with relation to family income show a very high burden of dependence demonstrating the need for large individual lifetime savings to offset long term care expenses as well as the importance of government support for the neediest elderly in those countries.