title: The Impact of Consumer Numeracy on the Purchase of Long-Term Care Insurance.
abstract: To determine the effect of consumers' numeric abilities on the likelihood of owning private long-term care insurance.
  
  
  
  The 2010 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of Americans age 50 and older, was used (n = 12,796).
  
  
  
  Multivariate logistic regression was used to isolate the relationship between numeracy and long-term care insurance ownership.
  
  
  
  Each additional question answered correctly on a numeracy scale was associated with a 13 percent increase in the likelihood of holding LTCI, after controlling for predictors of policy demand, education, and cognitive function.
  
  
  
  Poor numeracy may create barriers to long-term care insurance purchase. Policy efforts aimed at increasing consumer decision support or restructuring the marketplace for long-term care insurance may be needed to increase older adults' ability to prepare for future long-term care expenses.
authors.affiliation: Health Services Research and Policy, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY.
authors.forename: Brian E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: McGarry
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Temkin-Greener
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY.
authors.forename: Benjamin P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Grabowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D003258:Consumer Behavior / Q000191:economics*; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007353:Insurance, Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Long-term care insurance; consumer decision making; long-term care financing; numeracy