Medicaid and Medicare Provide Critical Support for the Long-Term Care Needs of Older Women

As our population ages, policy-makers and individual families are struggling to determine the best way of meeting the long-term care needs of elderly relatives and friends. Women are particularly affected by these public and private discussions because of their higher usage of long-term care services and the fact that they are more likely than men to be caretakers. Medicaid, and to a lesser extent, Medicare help millions of women and their families pay for long-term care services. Therefore, attempts to undermine these programs would harm the health and financial stability of older women and their families and must be opposed.

Women account for the majority of long-term care recipients and caregivers. Women live, on average, 5 years longer than men and are more likely to suffer from multiple chronic conditions, making it all the more likely that they will have to rely on long-term care services as they age. Two-thirds of the population that currently receives long-term care is female, and in 2004, women comprised more than 70% of all nursing home residents. Women are also more likely than men to provide long-term care, both paid and unpaid. Ninety percent of paid, professional caregivers are women. In addition, one in ten women report caring for a sick or aging relative, typically an aging parent. Daughters account for 7 of every 10 adult children who help their frail parents and about 5 of every 6 who assume primary responsibility for their personal care.

Medicaid and, to a lesser extent, Medicare play a crucial role in helping women and their families pay for long-term care, which can be incredibly costly.  Nursing home care averages $72,000 a year and home health services cost, on average, $21 an hour. This is especially burdensome for older women who have, on average, significantly lower incomes and lower social security benefits than their male counterparts. Nationally, Medicaid pays nearly half of all nursing home expenditures (45%), and 50% of those who benefit from these expenditures were elderly women, compared to 17% elderly men. While Medicare plays a smaller role in covering long-term care services, it still represents an important source of funding. In 2005, Medicare covered over 20% of all long-term care spending and women represent three-quarters of all Medicare beneficiaries in long-term care facilities. Many of these women receive both benefits – 50% of all women in nursing homes receive both Medicaid and Medicare. Long-term care will likely become more affordable and accessible as a result of a number of provisions in the new health care law, including a new voluntary long-term care insurance program.

Unfortunately, these programs are currently under attack. The House budget resolution includes huge cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and the House has spent a significant amount of their time this session trying to repeal and defund the new health care law. If these attacks are successful, it will be even harder for older women to afford the long-term services and supports they need. We must ensure that these programs are protected so that our mothers and grandmothers can receive the care they deserve.

This blog is part of the Health Care and Long-Term Care focused day of Wider Opportunities for Women's Elder Economic Security Blog Week. You cal follow along with all the posts this week on WOW's National Elder Economic Security Initiative blog.