As far as growing old goes, the Dutch have it pretty good. The Netherlands offers arguably the world's most generous long-term-care insurance, covering professional nursing or home care for all residents who can demonstrate need. The country spends a whopping 4.1 percent of its GDP on formal elder-care services, 94 percent of which is publicly funded. (The United States, by comparison, spends 1.3 percent, 71 percent of it publicly funded.) 'No other country spends more per capita on publicly financed formal care,' a 2023 working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded. And yet, nearly half of elderly Dutch residents who need assistance with the basic functions of daily life'dressing, bathing, grocery shopping, paying bills'still partly or even entirely rely on informal care from family and friends. Herein lies a lesson for Americans: Chances are, your elder care will not be outsourced, at least not entirely. It is no secret that in the United States,...
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