NGA Center for Best Practices

There are currently 35 million people over age 65 living in the United States and in the next seven years, 78 million baby boomers will begin turning 65 years old. With long term care costs consuming 35% of all Medicaid spending by states ($76.5 billion), better planning for the provisions of support and services to both the consumer and their families needs be undertaken by the states in addition to the efforts to educate members of the general public on long term care issues. The average retiree has $30,000 in retirement savings and with and average cost of one year in a nursing home costs around $50,000 and the average stay in a nursing home is 2.3 years, better planning must occur at the personal level, and there are strategies that states can use to help encourage increased savings and uptake of long term care insurance. The Health Division has focused on several initiatives to address long-term care, Medicare, housing, transportation, and workforce issues; and continues to provide technical assistance to states as they design services and systems for the aging and disabled, while tracking and monitoring state implementation of systems change initiatives.

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