Less than a quarter of single and partner households age 75 and older can afford daily visits from their home health aides.
A new paper published by Harvard University's Center for Housing Research shows that certain populations, including renters, people of color and people with functional difficulties, are even less likely to be able to afford care.
“The majority of seniors need long-term care (LTC) services at some point in their lives, such as helping them dress, bathe, or manage complex drug therapy,” said Jennifer Morinski, director of the Senior Association program and one of the authors of the paper, in a statement. “Most older people prefer to receive such care in their own homes. However, the costs of paid LTC services are out of reach for many households.”
The paper researchers analyzed data from the US Census Bureau's 2021 American Community Survey and other datasets to determine the number of elderly households that can afford homes and daily care at home. Of the nearly 10 million households analyzed, only 24% of the households earned enough to provide daily care from their home health aides, in addition to housing and basic living expenses.
Partner households could afford home care, with 43% able to afford both partners daily visits. Only 19% of people living alone could afford daily care. However, more households were able to purchase home care if they delivered fewer times a week.
“In reality, regular paid care may provide rest for unpaid family caregivers,” Morinsky said. “However, even without taking into account the costs of daily LTC visits, only 63% of the entire sample could pay for housing and basic living expenses. The rest lacked sufficient income for LTC care services.”
Households earning less than 50% of their median local income could not afford daily home care visits. However, middle-income earners struggled to pay for their daily home visits as they were unlikely to be less qualified for Medicaid-covered LTC services, but could not afford to pay care from their pocket.
“While full funding for Medicaid (home and community-based support) will help those with the highest need for affordable prices, Medicare's coverage of LTC services will help millions more,” Molinsky said in a statement. “Meeting housing needs can help older households interact with each other, including expanded rental subsidies and household repair and correction assistance that ensure that their homes are suitable and comfortable for care.”
