State Medicaid Programs for Long Term Care

State Medicaid programs will spend $1.6 trillion on long-term care in the next twenty years.

Medicaid spending for long-term care will grow at a faster rate than overall health care spending, faster than Medicare, and faster than the national Gross Domestic Product.

"This report shines a spotlight on the need to better prepare for long-term care expenses and to explore ways to provide consumers with greater access to home and community based care options," said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP. "Many Americans underestimate their risk of needing long-term care, underestimate the cost of care, and many erroneously believe they have long-term care coverage."

States with the highest projected expenditures over the next twenty years includes New York ($271 billion), California ($230 billion), and Pennsylvania ($104 billion). States with the fastest growing Medicaid long-term care expenses are Alaska (7 percent), California (6.4 percent), and Arizona (5.9 percent).