Most people don’t like to think about growing old and dying. If they do, they may imagine themselves passing slowly in their sleep, or surrounded by loved ones in their own beds, in the homes they’ve known and loved for years.

But that’s not often the case. Most people today spend their last days in a hospital or in a long-term care facility. And few plan for that eventuality. They may hope to pass their home and whatever savings they have along to their children, only to find their resources exhausted by the cost of care at the end of their lives.

“Most people, if they have a little money, it’s used up in a short time. The majority of people end up on state money, like Medicaid,” said Harold Nichols, ombudsman supervisor for Eastern Oklahoma Development Department’s Area Agency on Aging.

“There probably needs to be more encouragement of long-term planning. Maybe the government ought to offer more tax credits for long-term care insurance,” Nichols said.

In today’s economy, when millions of Americans do without basic health insurance, the additional cost of long-term care insurance is a pipe dream for many. And with baby boomers rapidly approaching the age when they will eventually need long-term care, the problem will not diminish in the foreseeable future.

Nursing home care can cost $5,000 to $6,000 per month – much more than most people have readily on hand. As Nichols said, whatever assets they have usually run out rapidly.

It’s possible to preserve the home and other assets, but this must be done well in advance of the time a person needs to enter a nursing home. Many people fail to do so, Nichols said.

This asset management must be performed five years before the person enters a nursing home.

“A lot of people call trying to figure it out at the last minute. They don’t want to lose the family home,” Nichols said.

While long-term care policies have been available for more than a decade, they aren’t used that frequently, according to his experience. And they don’t always deliver what the purchaser expected.

“Some people have bought long-term care policies and they’re not what they thought they were going to get,” Nichols said.

Some policies don’t cover assisted living, and some don’t allow the person to choose the facility where he’ll wind up.

Nichols thinks it’s time for more attention to be paid to this issue.

“In some countries, part of the payroll deduction that pays for Social Security and Medicare also pays for long-term care,” Nichols said.

Patty Colvin, administrator at Grace Living Center University Northwest, said few people who enter her facility have long-term care insurance.