Take a look at this table, which AARP’s Don Redfoot posted earlier this week:
It is a remarkable story: Long-stay nursing home care by seniors enrolled in Medicaid has been plummeting for 15 years. It is not clear exactly why, but there are probably several reasons. First, state Medicaid programs have been shifting care from nursing facilities to home and community-based settings–a step that seniors themselves favor and one that may save money in the long-run. While Medicaid still spends more total dollars on nursing home care than on home care, Don’s chart shows that nursing facility use by Medicaid-eligible seniors has fallen by nearly one-third, from 1.4 million in 1995 to just over 1 million in 2010.
Source: Nursing Home Use by Medicaid Seniors is Plunging – Howard Gleckman
