Why does Medicaid pay the nursing home care costs for so many elderly nursing home residents when Medicare is supposed to take care of the elderlys health care needs?
While originally intended to meet the poor’s health care needs, Medicaid became America’s long-term care system by default because the nation lacks any comprehensive long-term care program. Many elderly middle-class citizens must rely on Medicaid to pay for long-term care because they have exhausted virtually all of their life savings and assets to pay for their care. Most spend down their assets within one year of being admitted to a nursing home.
