Long-term care has become a real issue in the United States today, and Americans are not ignoring it.  The result of demographic changes, and other factors such as: an increasing life expectancy and a aging population, it is thus forecasted that long-term care services will be rising in the near future.

Long-term care is the assistance given to individuals. The six basis activities of daily living, as indicated by the "National Association of Insurance Commissioners" that describes long-term care are: toileting, continence, eating, bathing, transferring, and dressing.  Cognitive impairment may also qualify as long-term care. Cognitive impairment means a loss in intellectual capacity that results in the need for continual supervision. 

Long-term care has a range of people working in this field from: medical, personal, custodial, social services, and organization/companies, helping people in America, who are unable to care for themselves.  Per the U.S. General Office of Accounting in 1993: "The United States spent more than $100 billion dollars on long-term care."  Today, in the United States, long-term care forecasts about 11 to 12 million people needs assistance with their daily activities because of chronic illnesses.