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Determines the predictors of readiness to buy long-term care insurance (LTC) among participants in LTC educational seminars in the United States. Consumer denial; Misperceptions about state governments' spending requirements under Medicaid; Misinformation about Medicare; Consumer ignorance; Lack of stronger tax incentives to purchase LTC coverage; Implications for financial services practice.

A prototype Individual Disability-Escalating Annuity policy is proposed for market introduction by insurers seeking to finance the risk of functional disability among tomorrow's elderly. In this article, the author's research findings suggest that nine activities of daily living physical dependency indicators are among the most powerful predictors of survival time, and that actuarially equivalent cash benefits can escalate significantly with annuitants' disability levels in this new generation of long-term care products.