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USA Today
24 minutes ago
- USA Today
Most Americans think Medicare covers long-term care. Are they right?
Most Americans think Medicare covers long-term care, the regimen of daily help that many seniors will eventually require. It does not. That basic misunderstanding has retirement experts worried. It suggests millions of Americans may have no plan to cover the high costs of aging. Long-term care is a range of services for people who need help with everyday activities, such as bathing, dressing or eating. More than 80% of us will need that help at some point, according to a recent study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Americans are badly misinformed about the basics of long-term care, a point driven home in numerous surveys and studies. One of the latest, released in June by Nationwide, found that 58% of U.S. adults wrongly believe Medicare covers long-term care. 'Seventy percent of the people who reach 65 are going to need long-term care,' said Holly Snyder, president of Nationwide Life Insurance. 'And if you get there, people seem to think there are public safety nets that will take care of you.' Long-term care costs can be staggering Many seniors need long-term care for years. Costs can be staggering. The average assisted living facility charges $5,350 a month, according to T. Rowe Price. A typical nursing home charges $9,733. Those prices should alarm older Americans. The problem, according to Snyder and others, is that many people assume Medicare will cover them. 'People just don't distinguish between long-term care and health care,' said Gal Wettstein, a senior research economist at Boston College. Some confusion is natural. Medicare, the federal health insurance program for seniors, does cover some short stays in nursing homes. But Medicare generally does not cover longer stays. The reason: Most long-term care is not considered medical care. 'Someone to make sure Mom eats her food, takes her medicine and, when she wakes up, she doesn't walk out the door: That's custodial care,' said Patrick Simasko, an elder law attorney in Michigan. And here's where things get really confusing: While Medicare doesn't cover most long-term care, Medicaid does. Medicaid, the government health insurance program for Americans of limited means, generally covers long-term care for seniors who spend down their assets. In fact, Medicaid is the nation's largest payer of long-term care. Many Americans 'confuse Medicare and Medicaid,' Simasko said. Why don't more Americans have long-term care insurance? The pervasive belief that Medicare covers long-term care may also help explain why so few Americans own long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance does just what the name implies: It covers costs of long-term care. Yet, by one industry estimate, only about 4% of older Americans hold policies. Why do so few Americans purchase long-term care insurance? 'Because so many people think Medicare covers it,' Wettstein said. 'They don't want to buy a product that they think they already have.' The notion that Medicare covers long-term care is one of several prevalent misconceptions about the costs of aging. In the Nationwide survey, 41% of respondents said they doubt they will live long enough to use long-term care insurance. In fact, most seniors will eventually need it. The Nationwide survey reached 1,324 adults, ages 29 and up, with household incomes of at least $75,000. Another survey, fielded in 2024 by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), found that only four in 10 workers believed they would need long-term care. In that survey, employees also vastly underestimated the costs of long-term care, with most believing the tab would not exceed $50,000. 'There's been so much focus on saving for retirement, accumulation, but there's not much talk about addressing the risks associated with aging,' said Bridget Bearden, research and development strategist at EBRI. Americans underestimate long-term care as a retirement risk Many older Americans underestimate long-term care as a retirement risk. In one 2024 survey of affluent older Americans, Boston College researchers found, long-term care ranked fifth among financial worries in retirement, behind stock market turbulence, Social Security cuts and other concerns. Many Americans don't grasp the implications of tapping Medicaid to cover long-term care, Wettstein said. To qualify for the benefit, as a rule, you must spend all of your money. 'It's an insurance product that has 'everything you own' as a deductible,' Wettstein said. 'You have to spend everything you own in order to use it.' Medicaid requirements yield a long-term care industry of haves and have-nots, according to Wettstein and others. Only affluent Americans can easily afford long-term care costs out of pocket. And only impoverished Americans get it for free. 'When you get old, you'd better have a lot of money, or you'd better be broke,' Simasko said. 'It's those in-between people who are having a hard time.' If this report has you worried about long-term care, here are a few expert tips. Consider long-term care insurance Many Americans consider long-term care insurance prohibitively expensive, Snyder said. In fact, long-term care policies come in many varieties. Costs rise and fall dramatically according to the dollar amount of the benefit, the length of care covered, and other variables. A typical policy, providing a $165,000 benefit for a single adult of 55, might cost $950 a year for a man, $1,500 for a woman, the National Council on Aging reports. One big drawback to many traditional long-term care policies: You collect no money if you get no care. But the industry is evolving. Under various 'hybrid' policies, if you don't exhaust the long-term care benefits, they go to your beneficiaries when you die. Shop around for long-term care Long-term care costs vary widely depending on where you live. Assisted living costs average $8,093 a month in Albany, N.Y., but only $4,600 in Boulder, Colorado, according to the National Council on Aging. If you live in a high-cost city, look at prices in the suburbs, or in the next county. Consult a cost-of-care calculator. You could buy yourself more years of care. 'Find the best place for the best price,' Simasko said. Meet with a retirement planner Financial planners are trained to help people budget for all the potential costs of retirement, including long-term care. A retirement planner can help you unpack the complexities of long-term care and craft a plan to pay for it. 'It really is about talking to your financial professional,' Snyder said.
New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
‘Tears My Heart to Pieces': North Carolina Braces for Medicaid Cuts
The only hospital in Martin County, N.C., closed in 2023, but the electricity is still on inside. Air conditioning continues to keep its empty patient rooms cool. And the county still pays the bills for the building's medical gas system. That is because the people of Martin County, in rural eastern North Carolina, have been determined to keep the beige brick building from deteriorating — and to somehow reopen their hospital, which had been struggling financially for years. When North Carolina expanded Medicaid later in 2023, after the hospital shuttered, offering government health insurance to the state's low-income adults, Martin County saw an opportunity. Plans materialized to partly reopen the hospital, largely because federal dollars were pouring into the state to cover patients' care under Medicaid. But those plans are now in jeopardy, as is Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents, after Congress passed President Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill. To help pay for tax cuts, the bill slashes federal spending on Medicaid, leaving states that expanded the program under Obamacare in a particularly difficult spot. If Medicaid expansion is eliminated in North Carolina, Martin General Hospital almost surely will not reopen — 'a catastrophic and deadly consequence,' said Paul Roberson, a real estate agent and community leader in Williamston, where a sign in front of the hospital reads, 'CLOSED. If you need immediate assistance, dial 911.' 'Not having the hospital here is costing lives,' Mr. Roberson said, noting that the nearest hospital was about a 30-minute drive away. 'This is the most important thing for us.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Newsweek
35 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump's Approval Rating Flips With Baby Boomers
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Donald Trump's support among baby boomers has rebounded sharply, giving the president a boost with one of his most dependable voting blocs as he heads into the 2026 midterm cycle. In the latest Quantus Insights poll, Trump's approval rating with baby boomers has flipped from being even to solidly positive. Last month, his numbers among over-65s stood at 49 percent approve and 49 percent disapprove. This month's results, however, show a significant turnaround. Trump now sits at 56 percent approve and 41 percent disapprove, a net positive of +15 points and a 15-point swing in his favor in just a few weeks. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he arrives on Air Force One on July 4, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as he arrives on Air Force One on July 4, 2025, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Alex Brandon/AP Why It Matters The reversal underscores Trump's enduring appeal with older conservatives, even as his approval ratings have dropped among younger Americans and some other key groups. Baby boomers—who were critical to Trump's win in 2024, when 51 percent of the age group voted for him—remain a vital pillar of his political base. What To Know While the Quantus Insights poll showed a boost in boomer support for the president, other polls show that his approval rating among this demographic has remained remarkably consistent in recent months. A YouGov/Economist poll found Trump's rating among over-65s holding steady at 45 percent approve/53 percent disapprove in June—barely changed from May's numbers of 45/51. An ActiVote poll shows a similar pattern, with Trump's approval slipping only slightly from 48 percent approve/48 percent disapprove in May to 42/52 in June among over-65s. Marist polling, too, shows almost no movement among boomers, with 41 percent approve/58 percent disapprove in June for over-60s compared with 40/57 in April. A Fox News poll recorded a modest shift, with Trump's rating among over-65s at 46/53 in June, up just a few points from 43/57 in April. Could the Big Beautiful Bill Affect Trump's Approval? Trump's standing with boomers could collapse in the coming months after Congress passed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" on Thursday. It will cut roughly $1.1 trillion in health care spending and result in 11.8 million people losing Medicaid health insurance over the next decade, according to new estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In 2021, approximately 9.4 million individuals aged 65 and older were enrolled in Medicaid, according to the Brookings Institution, including many who are "dual eligibles," meaning they are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. This makes Medicaid the single largest payer for long-term services and supports in the country. In fact, more than 60 percent of nursing home residents in the U.S. depend on Medicaid to help pay for their care. Recent polls have shown that a majority of Americans say they oppose Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A Quinnipiac poll conducted June 22-24 found that 55 percent of Americans oppose the bill. A Fox News survey from June 13-16 put opposition even higher, at 59 percent. Meanwhile, a KFF poll from June 4-8 showed the strongest pushback, with 64 percent saying they reject the legislation. Even polls with relatively lower opposition still show more Americans against the bill than in favor. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll, conducted June 6–10, found 42 percent opposed but only 23 percent support it. While a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 2-8 showed 49 percent disapproval and 29 percent in favor. All five surveys included samples of at least 950 U.S. adults, indicating broad national sentiment. In the Quinnipiac poll, 47 percent of registered voters said they support the Medicaid work provision in the bill and 46 percent said they oppose them, effectively a dead heat. Meanwhile, the KFF poll found that 79 percent of Americans think it is the government's responsibility "to provide health insurance coverage to low-income Americans who cannot afford it." During his campaign, Trump vowed: "We're not cutting Medicaid, we're not cutting Medicare, and we're not cutting Social Security." What Happens Next Trump's approval rating among baby boomers is likely to fluctuate throughout his second term.
