Staying Out of Nursing Homes

A good article on the struggle to stay out of nursing homes and in the community, and it points to a disparity that many advocates are fighting; the fact that institutional care (nursing homes) are federally required, but care in the community are not.  The Supreme Court said that people have the right to live in the community, the funding simply isn't there.  Even though it's actually cheaper to provide care in the community!

Young people ages 31 to 64 now make up 14 percent of the nursing home population, an analysis of federal data from the Department of Health and Human Services by NPR's Investigative Unit found. That's up from 10 percent just 10 years ago.

The article notes that part of that reason may be that more older adults are living in assisted living facilities rather than nursing homes.  Another reason is that when states look for places to cut funding, they can cut community-based care more easily than they can cut institutional care.