Long-Term Care Spending Relevant to U.S. Medicaid Expansion

The U.S. population is living longer, placing a demand on long-term care services. In the U.S., Medicaid is the primary player in funding costly long-term care for the aged poor. As a major health reform law, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, gives financial incentive for states to expand Medicaid, transitioning long-term care services from facilities toward community care. Facing other funding obligations and recent recessions, not all states expanded their Medicaid long-term care program using the financial incentives. Some states continue to spend more dollars on traditional nursing facility care despite legislation. This chapter explores why some states spend more revenue on nursing facility long-term care despite enhanced federal funding to reform, while others are spending more on home and community-based services. Regression analysis and 50 state-level data is used.