Medicaid

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Public Financing of Long-Term Care: Federal and State Roles Brian O. Burwell and William H. Crown SysteMetrics September 1994 PDF Version (43 PDF pages)

ASPE Research Notes INFORMATION FOR DECISION MAKERS FOCUS ON: Long-Term Care Issued February 1994 The Elderly with Disabilities: At Risk for High Health Care Costs PDF Version:

The past decade or so has seen considerable growth in the number of Medicaid programs electing to cover personal care services--from only ten in FY 1979 to 29 in FY 1992. Substantial inter-state variation exists in Medicaid personal care services coverage.

This project was designed to explore the utilization and expenditures to Medicaid of substance exposed children, using data on the experience of children born in California in 1986, 1987 and 1988. The Medicaid experience of these children in their first two years of life was the focus of the analysis.

The number of persons with health insurance coverage kept pace with the growth of the population between 1990 and 1991--with approximately 86% of the population insured. The most important new information regarding health insurance in the 1992 CPS is that the number of persons helped by the Medicaid program during the year rose by 2.6 million or 11% to almost 27 million in 1991.

The number of persons with no health insurance coverage rose by 4% between 1989 and 1990, while the number with insurance rose less than 1%. The increase in insurance coverage was due primarily to increases in Medicaid coverage for children under 15.

This study analyzes Connecticut nursing home data on a current resident cohort, with particular attention to how many residents began their stays as private pay, but eventually spent down to Medicaid eligibility. It also estimates how many residents were Medicaid eligible prior to admission or became eligible at admission.

The purpose of this paper was to provide a synthesis and critique of current research on Medicaid spenddown. The primary goal was to ask what these studies could tell us about the extent to which persons incurred catastrophic expenses in nursing homes. A corollary goal was to examine how the data and research methods used in the various studies affected the "results" reported.

The project examined how states have used Medicaid's Personal Care Services Optional Benefit (also called the PC Option), assessed whether coverage regulations for these services be revised, and discussed the ways in which the program might affect public debate about the expansion of public funding for long-term care.