“Medicaid’s Role in Meeting the Long-Term Care Needs of America’s Seniors”

The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a new report, entitled “Medicaid’s Role in Meeting the Long-Term Care Needs of America’s Seniors,” which analyzes the extent to which seniors, especially those with low incomes, rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care. While Medicare is the primary payer for acute services, it does not pay for long-term care. Nearly 5 million older adults require some form of long-term care assistance to complete their daily activities, and few can afford long-term care insurance. As a result, Medicaid accounted for 41 percent of long-term care spending in the United States in 2010.

According to the KFF report, only 32 percent of Medicaid enrollees used long-term care services, but they accounted for 74 percent of all Medicaid spending on the elderly in 2009. Older adults are one of the two highest-cost populations in Medicaid, second only to individuals with disabilities. KFF contends that both Medicare and Medicaid will continue to play a significant role in providing long-term care to older adults, especially as 76 million Baby Boomers continue to age in the absence of more affordable long-term care options.

Read the KFF report.