Plenty has been written, and numbers shared, about the care crisis in our country—and with good reason. Thanks to advances in modern medicine, people are living longer than ever before. At the same time, the costs of long-term care and access to that care are becoming more restrictive than ever. One factor that doesn't get as much attention in that conversation is the fact that retirement savings aren't coming close to covering those "golden years" and that picture becomes even worse when you factor in the increasingly expensive costs of long-term care. AARP sums it up best when it says: "Only a modest percentage of Americans have the wealth needed to afford whatever long-term care needs emerge in their later years."

Retirement savings are already struggling

While it's certainly fair to say that one of the challenges of the care crisis is that many Americans aren't thinking about their need for care, the same can't be said for retirement. People ARE thinking about their retirement, and if they're thinking about retirement, they should be thinking about care. Let's look at a few numbers to start to show why:

• $255,200 – The average retirement savings according to a recent Forbes article.
• $1,693 – The average monthly Social Security check for a retiree according to an article on Bankrate.

Those numbers alone probably point to an unsustainable plan for retirement. How long can a retiree stretch those benefits? For many, the answer is "not long enough". A recent survey from Retirable shared that 63% of respondents don't feel they saved enough to get themselves through retirement. Many are changing their plans for retirement or looking at a second job to make up the difference. That's probably not quite the ideal retirement many envision for themselves.