When asked about some of the reasons why people might rely on Medicaid to pay their nursing home bills, much of the public says that people not having family support to pay their bills (80%) is a major reason, as well as people not having long-term care insurance (79%), or not having other insurance that covers nursing home care (76%).

Somewhat fewer people say that Medicare not paying for long-term care (68%) is a major reason, and that people haven’t planned ahead to pay their own bills (65%). And fewer adults believe that people are dependent on Medicaid because they didn’t plan on going into a nursing home (46%).