Examining variation in state spending on medicaid long-term services and supports for older adults

ABSTRACT

State Medicaid programs are the largest source of funding for long-term services and supports (LTSS). We characterized states across quartiles of mean LTSS spending for individuals ≥65 and used the Health and Retirement Study to examine the demographic, functional, and caregiving characteristics across these quartiles. Individuals in states with lower Medicaid spending on LTSS reported more family and friend caregiving hours and were more likely to be from racial and ethnic minority groups. Continued work is needed to improve Medicaid LTSS policy to better support vulnerable populations, particularly in lower quartile states.

Prior Presentations: Abstract accepted for poster presentation at the Presidential Poster Session at the American Geriatrics Society National Conference 2020, Long Beach, CA.

KEYWORDS:

• Medicaid
• long-term services and support
• aging

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Katelyn Ferreira, Mohammad Husain, Evan Bollens-lund, and Katherine Ornstein.

Author contributions

Study concept and design: G.S.M, C. K. A., and A. S. K

Acquisition of data: G.S.M. and O-K. R.

Analysis and interpretation of data: G.S.M. and O-K. R.

Drafting of the manuscript: G.S.M, C. K. A., and A. S. K

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: G.S.M, C. K. A., and A. S. K

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The HRS is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740) and the Social Security Administration and is conducted by the University of Michigan. ASK receives support from the National Institute on Aging (K24-AG062785). GSM received support from the Mount Sinai Patricia S. Levinson Summer Research Award. Funding sources had neither a role in the design, conduct, and analysis of this study, nor in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.