Television Reviews : The Soaring Cost of Caring for Elderly

Do you plan to be old someday?

Then you should probably check out “The Cost of Caring,” tonight’s informative edition of KCET’s “California Stories” series (7:35 p.m.) that begins a week of special programming on financial problems associated with long-term health care for the elderly.

By the year 2020, one in four Californians will be over 65. That’s great, but modern medicine’s increasing ability to keep people alive longer has a negative side: More and more elderly will be needing long-term health care--the daily “custodial” kind that today costs an average of $22,000 a year.

Though most people think Medicare or private insurance will pay for long-term custodial care, they won’t, as Steve Talley shows in his excellently written, produced and reported 30-minutes.

Only one half of 1% of Americans have private insurance policies that will pay them, which means that using up your life savings or going on welfare are the only alternatives. Medical experts, state hospital officials and the tax attorney who lobbied successfully for changes in Medi-Cal help Talley explain the bureaucratic pitfalls while Talley tenderly profiles several financially ruined couples.

Talley, who turns up the fear burners a little high at times, points out that today only 5% of all seniors live in nursing homes, but he’s uncharacteristically vague about just how many long-term custodial care people are out there.

Overall, however, he’s made an intelligent, emotionally powerful program. Coverage of the topic continues Tuesday through Thursday on “7:30,” KCET’s 5-minute daily news program, and on Friday with a special half-hour “7:30” report, “Long-Term Care: Who Pays the Bill?” a question addressed by in-studio guests.