This year about seven million men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care. By the year 2005, the number will increase to nine million. By the year 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care. Most will be cared for at home; family members and friends are the sole caregivers for 70 percent of elderly people. But a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicates that people of age 65 face at least a 40 percent lifetime risk of entering a nursing home. About 10 percent will stay there five years or longer.

The American population is growing older, and the group over age 85 is now the fastest growing segment of the population. The odds of entering a nursing home, and staying for longer periods, increase with age. In fact, statistics show that at any given time, 22 percent of those age 85 and older are in a nursing home. Because women generally outlive men by several years, they face a 50 percent greater likelihood than men of entering a nursing home after age 65.

You may never need a nursing home. But the longer you live, the greater the chance that you will need some form of long-term care.