December 2003

Using Medicaid to Cover Services for Elderly Persons in Residential Care Settings: State Policy Maker and Stakeholder Views in Six States

The anticipated increase in the population aged 65 and older in the coming decades, particularly those aged 85 and older, will lead to an increase in the number of people who need long-term care services. Virtually all individuals who need long term care services prefer to receive them in their own homes. However, some people with long term care needs cannot live in their own homes, often because they live alone and need unscheduled assistance and protective oversight on a 24 hour basis. Residential care settings have traditionally provided such assistance and oversight to persons with physical and mental impairments who cannot live at home alone but do not require a nursing home level of care. As such, residential care lies on the long term care continuum between home care and nursing home care.