Most people wouldn’t think of paying $18 an hour for someone to help them slip on their shoes, wash their hair or feed them a meal.

But for old people who need help at home that’s often the charge — an expense that over months and years can sting a life savings.

Making it easier for people to afford long-term care is the goal of an insurance program tucked inside the country’s new health care law.

Experts on aging praise the voluntary program as an important step in convincing all people, even those in their 30s and 40s, to begin thinking about how they’ll pay for long-term care. The aim of the legislation is to provide a program with affordable premiums that will encourage people to plan ahead.Knowing whether the program is right for you could be difficult to determine now. The federal government still must work out the key details, including the cost of premiums and the amount of the payout, although there are estimates.

The law sets up a government-run program in which monthly premiums would be deducted from workers’ paychecks. Workers could opt out of the program.

People would need to pay into the program for five years before they could receive help with long-term care expenses, including in-home services and nursing home costs.

Demand for long-term care will almost certainly increase because of the aging population.

Federal figures show that this year about 9 million elderly Americans will need help with using the toilet, eating and other activities that would be covered in the new insurance program. The count is projected to rise to 14 million during the next two decades.

Nena Brabec of Omaha, 54, doesn’t have long-term care insurance because it’s tough to fit into her budget. But she has become more interested in it.

Brabec sees how expensive long-term care is for her 83-year-old mother, Viola DeLuca.

DeLuca was diagnosed with dementia in 2008 and soon moved in with Brabec.

Brabec said she didn’t want to leave her mother alone all day while she was at work, so Brabec contacted Touching Hearts at Home, a company that provides in-home care.

DeLuca is relatively self-sufficient for now, Brabec said. She can bathe herself, get dressed and take care of her other personal needs.

But the caregiver from Touching Hearts visits to talk with her mother and keep her mind engaged. They work on puzzles, or talk about recipes, dogs and other favorite topics.

The caregiver also reminds DeLuca to change out of her pajamas or to wash her hair.

Brabec also said it’s comforting to have the caregiver there each day to check on her mom in case she falls or becomes sick.

The assistance is important, Brabec said, but it’s costly.

At $18 an hour, supervised care for two hours per day, five days a week hits $720 a month or more than $8,600 per year.

For now, Brabec said, she covers the cost through her parents’ savings. Her father died in 2005.

“The money is running out,” she said.

Nursing home care is even more expensive. That average cost nationally for a private room is more than $77,000 annually.

Howard Bedlin, a public policy official with the National Council on Aging, said the new government program would help keep people in their own homes longer.

Estimated benefits for the program would be an average of at least $50 per day, or $18,250 per year. Bedlin said he believes participation in the program will be strong enough so that the daily benefit would be higher, averaging $75.

The amount of premiums has not been set and would be based in part on the age of the person seeking coverage. An estimate from the Congressional Budget Office showed a premium of $123 per month, but other analysts believe it could be less, said Barbara Manard of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.

The private insurance industry has questioned whether the program will work and say private insurers, who have offered long-term care coverage for years, provide quality coverage and more affordable premiums.

People would be accepted into the new program regardless of their health. A potential problem is that people with existing health problems might flock to the government program and young people would stay away. The result would be a risk pool not broad enough to make premiums affordable, opponents say.

Getting younger Americans interested in long-term care could be tough. People in their 30s and 40s are raising children and face intense demand for their money, whether it’s music lessons, soccer camps and college savings funds.

“A 30-year-old is really (only) concerned about tomorrow,” said Jeff Ingraham, an independent insurance broker in Omaha.

Mutual of Omaha offers long-term care insurance. A Mutual spokesman said the company didn’t want to comment on how its policies would compare to the government program until premiums and other details of the federal plan have been set.

Jesse Patton, owner of a Des Moines-based insurance firm, said his company offers good long-term coverage with monthly premiums of about $125 range.

One advantage of getting a policy through a private insurer is that the coverage generally takes effect immediately, Patton said. A person would have to pay into the government program for five years before becoming eligible for benefits.

He did say that for persons with an existing health condition it can be difficult and expensive to get coverage for long-term care through a private insurance company. The government program would accept people regardless of health.

Brabec said the best part of the care her mother receives is that it enables her to keep living at home. That’s much better than a nursing home, she said.

“It’s dignity,” she said