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April 15, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Growth in the need for long term care by boomers expected in the decades ahead will create significant drains on the ability of Medicaid to meet the demand, recent studies show.
The financial burden on Medicaid will only increase in the next 2 decades, when the oldest of the boomers start to reach the years when a significant number will need long term care, notes Howard Gleckman, author of a new report by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, “Medicaid and Long Term Care.”
“Not only will this large generation produce a substantial increase in the number of elderly, but a growing percentage of retirees may not be able to afford long term care due to pressures on traditional sources of retirement income,” Gleckman states.
He points to another study by Georgetown University’s Long Term Care Financing Project, released in February, that found private LTC insurance covered just 7% of total national spending on such services in 2005. Medicaid paid almost half of it, while the remainder was paid largely by Medicare or by individuals.
Policymakers are looking for ways to curb that growth, including shifting the cost to individuals, Gleckman points out.
“Congress and the states are also making Medicaid eligibility more restrictive,” he adds.
For boomers, such findings “drive home the need to plan for long term care earlier than they might have anticipated,” notes one LTC insurance professional. Without insurance to protect assets, retirement income won’t be able to handle the financial demand, says Thomas Riekse, managing partner, LTCI Partners LLC, Libertyville, Ill.
