With short and long-term policy changes to the Medicaid program being discussed, its role in providing long-term care is receiving closer examination. Medicaid is the single largest source of financing for long-term care, accounting for nearly half of all the nation’s spending for long-term care services, and demographic trends are likely to place additional pressure on Medicaid.  New attention is being focused on who relies on Medicaid for help with nursing home bills and how they qualify for the program.  Additionally states have been shifting resources to more home and community-based care settings in recent years in an attempt to provide alternatives to institutional care.

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has several new and recent reports highlighting the latest trends in Medicaid’s role for people with long-term care needs.

 Long-Term Care:  Understanding Medicaid’s Role for the Elderly and Disabled

 Asset Transfer and Nursing Home Use

 The Distribution of Assets in the Elderly Population Living in the Community

 Strategies to Keep Consumers Needing Long-Term Care in the Community and Out of Nursing Facilities

 Who Stays and Who Goes Home: Using National Data on Nursing Home Discharges and Long-Stay Residents to Draw Implications for Nursing Home Transition Programs

 Medicaid 1915(c) Home and Community-Based Service Programs: Data Update