Increasing nursing home costs “drastically affect” members of the middle class, who may not qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford the specialized geriatric services that Medicare won’t pay for, according to Martha Sandoval, writing about an Incredible Health analysis of KFF data. The four states with the most affected residents are in the Upper Midwest, according to the data.
Overall, one-fourth of nursing home residents use personal savings or long-term care insurance benefits to cover their care, whereas two-thirds rely on Medicaid as their primary payer and 13% rely on Medicare, according to KFF data.
The median cost of a semi-private room at a nursing home is approximately $7,908 per month or $94,900 annually, Sandoval wrote. That’s 2.9% higher than the median cost five years ago, she added.
In more than 20 states, mostly in the central US and the West and Northeast, 22% to 37% of nursing home residents pay privately for nursing care, according to the analysis.
At the upper end, 44% of Iowans living in skilled nursing facilities are paying for their care via personal savings or long-term care insurance benefits, followed by 40% of South Dakotans, 39% in North Dakota and 37% in Minnesota. At the other end, 14% of SNF residents in West Virginia and Mississippi are paying via private funds, followed by 11% in Alaska and 8% in Washington, DC.
Although most states have seen an increase in nursing home costs, some states have experienced especially rapid price hikes, Sandoval said. West Virginia, at 7%, and Delaware, at 5%, have a more significant share of residents who rely on Medicaid, she said.
Private-payer healthcare services price growth hit a record high this spring, with the cost of nursing home care increasing at the fastest rate, 7%, compared with other healthcare categories, according to a Health Sector Economic Indicators brief from Altarum.
