General Facts
Misconceptions
Workforce
Caregiving
Not-for-Profit Aging Services
Long-term Care Insurance
Global Aging
General Facts
Cost:
- The average daily private room private rate in a nursing home is $219 daily or $79,935 annually.
- The average daily semi-private room private rate in a nursing home $198 daily or $72,270 annually.
- The average monthly cost of living in an assisted living facility is $3,131, or $37,572 annually.
- The national average rate for home health aids in 2009 is $21 per hour, which mirrors the median rate.
- For companion/homemakers, the national average rate in 2009 is $19 per hour.
- The national average daily rate for adult day centers is $69.
Long-Term Care Spending by Payer:
- Medicaid: 42%
- Medicare: 25%
- Out of Pocket: 22%
- Private Insurance and Other Sources: 11%
Availability:
- There are 16,100 certified nursing homes in the United States.
- There are 39,500 assisted living facilities in the United States.
- There are 1,900 continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
- There are more than 300,000 units of Section 202 affordable senior housing available in the United States.
- For each Section 202 affordable senior housing unit that is available, there are ten eligible seniors on waiting lists for it. The average time an eligible senior is on the waiting list is 13.4 months.
Use:
- There are more than 1.7 million nursing home residents in the United States.
- An individual's average age when he or she moves into a nursing home is 79.
- Women are almost three times as likely to live in nursing homes than men.
- According to most recent data, nearly 1 million people live in assisted living residences.
- There are more than 1.1 million seniors in some type of senior housing community in the United States.
- There are approximately 745,000 older adults who live in continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
- More than 150,000 individuals receive care and services at an adult day center.
- Approximately 7.6 million individuals currently receive home care services from home care providers because of acute illness, long-term health conditions, permanent disability, or terminal illness.
- The average lifetime nursing home use per individual is one year, and the average home care use is a little over 200 visits.
Need:
- By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term services and supports .
- Among people turning 65 today, 69 percent will need some form of long-term services and supports over the remainder of their life, whether in the community or in a residential care facility.
Misconceptions
Costs:
- Only 8 percent of Americans over 45 could estimate the average monthly cost of nursing homes within 20 percent of its actual cost.
- Less than a quarter (23 percent) of Americans over 45 can estimate the monthly cost of an assisted living facility within 20 percent of its actual cost.
- One in five (20 percent) Americans over 45 say they don't know the cost of an in-home visit from an aide.
Cost Coverage:
- Only one-third (34 percent) of adults surveyed know that long-term services and supports costs are covered by Medicaid for low-income people with no savings, 21 percent thing that costs are covered by Medicare, 14 percent think that neither Medicare nor Medicaid cover costs, and another 20 percent admit that they are uncertain.
- More than half (52 percent)—including those who say they are “very familiar” with long-term services and supports (45 percent)—believe Medicare covers assisted living.
- Two thirds (66 percent)—including those who say they are “very familiar” with long-term services and supports (64 percent)—believe Medicare will cover in-home visits by a skilled nurse.
- More than half (54 percent) believe Medicare will pay for a visit from a home care aide. It will, but only in cases where such a visit is medically necessary. (Back to Top
Workforce
Size:
- In 2006, an estimated 2.3 million direct care workers—certified nursing aides, home health care aides, and home care/personal care workers—were providing long term care to older adults in the U.S. In 2006 approximately 312,000 registered nurses were employed in long term care settings serving elderly populations.
- In 2006 an estimated 297,000 licensed practical nurses were employed in a range of long term care settings that serve older adults.
- In 2006 approximately 36,100 to 44,200 licensed social workers were employed in long term care.
Demographics:
- On average, registered nurses working in long-term care are older than those in other health care settings. More than a third (36%) are over 50 and one in ten are over 60.
- Women make up approximately 90 percent of the direct care workforce.
- About half of direct care workers are racial or ethnic minorities. A third are African-American while 15 percent are Hispanic or other persons of color.
- In 2008, the average direct care worker was 42 years old.
- Women over 55 are projected to become 30 percent of the nation’s direct-care workforce by 2018
Need:
- Overall, nearly 96,000 full-time equivalent nurses and other health care professionals are now needed to fill vacant positions in America's nursing homes.
- In 2002, 15 percent registered nurses (RNs), 13 percent of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and 8.5 percent of certified nurse aide (CNA) positions in America's nursing homes were vacant.
- By 2010, the number of vacant positions in nursing homes is expected reach 810,000.
- The average annual turnover rate for licensed nursing home administrators is 43 percent.
- The average national turnover rate for nurses working in aging services is 49 percent.
- The average national turnover rate for certified nursing assistants (CNAs) is 71 percent.
- The total cost of CNA turnover is more than $4 billion each year.
Caregiving
- An estimated 44.4 million Americans or more than 1 in 5 (21 percent) adults in the U.S. provide unpaid care to another adult age 18 or older.
- Ninety percent of individuals receive care at home get help from family and friends, and 80% rely solely on these individuals for assistance.
- Sixty one percent of informal caregivers are female.
- A National Alliance for Caregiving/Evercare Study found that average time a caregiver spends helping a care recipient was 35.4 hours a week. More than half (52 percent) had been providing care for three or more years and 32 percent had been providing care for more than 5 years.
- A study from the National Association of Caregivers says the costs of home care average more than $5,500 a year — $400 more than the average household spends on health care and entertainment combined.
- When the aging relative lives in another city, the costs run even higher. On average, long-distance caregivers spend nearly $9,000 a year.
- Businesses in America lose as much as $33.6 billion in annual revenue because of employees’ need to care for older loved ones.
- The average cost per employee for all fulltime, employed caregivers is $2,110.
Not-for-Profit Aging Services
- Not-for-profit organizations manage 31% of all nursing homes in the United States.
- Not-for-profit organizations manage approximately 80% of all continuing care retirement communities in the United States.
- Not-for-profit organizations manage 78% of all adult day centers in the United States.
- Not-for-profit organizations manage 45% of home health agencies in the United States.
- There are 1,520 not-for-profit retirement communities in the United States.
Long-Term Care Insurance
- In 2005, roughly seven million long-term services and supports insurance policies were in force in the United States.
- The average annual long-term care premium for individuals under 65 is $1973.
- The average premium for individuals age 65 is $2,003.
Global Aging
- Each month, the world's elderly population of people increases by 795,000.
- China's population includes 88 million elderly individuals, making it the world's "oldest" country.
- The elderly population in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan and Spain outnumbers that of children.