How could Medicaid cuts affect long-term care?

Make Me Smart

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is projected to cut Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion. The law changes eligibility rules, and some predictions estimate at least 10.5 million people will be eliminated from the program.

“For some adults, Medicaid will step in and help pay for care at home, or if care at home is not available, for care in nursing homes,” said Rachel Werner, executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. “With the cuts to Medicaid funding, we are expecting that the availability of care in both of those settings will diminish, and it will be harder for people to get the care they need to live independently.”

States will have to respond to the changes by either making up the funding gap or reducing services.

On the show today, Werner explains how the funding cuts could limit the caregiving options for older Americans who need at-home care and place a larger responsibility on their families. Plus, we discuss how to start planning for long-term care amid all the legislative changes.

Then, we’ll celebrate a listener’s win about her chocolate lab puppy. And, another listener’s quest to find life on Mars.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “How Medicaid Cuts Could Force Millions Into Nursing Homes” from The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania
• “Advocates warn that Medicaid cuts in the big budget law put home-based health care at risk” from Marketplace
• “New AARP Report: Majority of Adults 50-plus Want to Age in Place, But Policies and Communities Must Catch Up” from AARP
• “A Closer Look at the Medicaid Work Requirement Provisions in the “Big Beautiful Bill” from KFF
• “Medicaid cuts: The how and why” from the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist
• “As the need for nursing homes grows, nurses are in short supply” from Marketplace

We love hearing from you. Leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART or email [email protected].