Long Term Care 

General Information

• Medicare does not address the long term care and nursing home needs of our nation's elderly. Medicare covers only those nursing facility services rendered to help a resident recover from an acute illness or injury. In most cases, Medicare at a maximum provides for the first 100 days of care and only if certain conditions are met. (Health Care Financing Administration, 1996)

• Two out of every three nursing home residents rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. (Ibid.)

• In order to qualify for Medicaid, seniors are forced to "spend down" their assets to less than $2,000 in most states to get the long term care they need. (Ibid.)

• More than eight of every ten Americans believe it is wrong for seniors to impoverish themselves to go on a government program for nursing home care. (1995 Luntz Research)

The Demographic Dilemma

• Every eight seconds in America, a baby boomer turns fifty. (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996)

• Americans aged 85 and older are the fastest growing segment of population and the heaviest users of long term health care services. From 1960-1994, the 85 and older age group increased by more than 274 percent. Longevity is expected to rise for all ages. (Ibid.)

• Two out of five Americans will need long term care at some point in their lives. (Health Care Financing Administration, 1996)

• In 1996, the average cost of stay in a nursing facility was $41,000 per year. Only one in four Americans can afford private nursing home care for one year, yet the average length of stay in 1995 for a nursing facility resident was 2.3 years. (Ibid.)

Long Term Care Affects Women and Families

• Family members are often the primary care-givers of long term health care. Increasingly, women—the traditional family care-giver—are working outside the home. A national study found that 80 percent of working caregivers reported emotional strain, 50 percent reported financial strain, while 40 percent missed work on a regular basis due to the health needs of an elderly loved one. (American Association of Retired Persons, 1997)

Three out of four nursing facility residents are women. (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996)