Help for Life's Long Night

Clinton proposes a tax credit for protracted illness

Sherry Meadows, a tax assessor in Mount Vernon, Ill., first considered long-term insurance in 1992 as her 50th birthday made her ponder old age. But she put it off, shocked by the high premiums and thinking she and husband John had some time. But by 1997, he was found to have Alzheimer's. Now Sherry's life is about loss--of John, 56, and of life as she knew it. Only work interrupts her constant vigil. There are no nights off from tending to John since she can't afford the $125-a-day fee for what has come to be known as respite care. Day care...

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