Younger Individuals Increase Their Use of Nursing Homes Following ACA Medicaid Expansion

This study examines the effect of Medicaid eligibility expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the utilization of nursing home services by younger individuals and those covered by Medicaid.

Compared the age of nursing home residents, proportion of individuals covered by Medicaid, annual nursing home admissions in those younger than 65, and nursing home length of stay in states that expanded Medicaid eligibility through the ACA to states that did not. We used data from LTCFocus (nursing home level), the Minimum Data Set (individual level), and Medicaid expansion status from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The study included 15,005,888 nursing home admissions, 2,446,950 of which were residents younger than 65, across 14,132 nursing homes between 2009 and 2016.

A time-varying difference-in-difference model including state and year fixed effects with effect modification by pre-2014 nursing home occupancy.

Facilities in expansion states with a pre-ACA occupancy rate of more than 70% increased the fraction of residents younger than 65 by 2.74% to 6.32%, compared with similar facilities in nonexpansion states. Medicaid admissions varied, with an increase in year 2 after expansion compared with nonexpansion states. Among residents entering from an acute care hospital, the proportion younger than 65 increased in facilities with pre-2014 occupancy rates of more than 70%, compared with similar facilities in nonexpansion states, an increase of up to 6.51%. Median nursing home length of stay for individuals younger than 65 decreased relative to nonexpansion states across all occupancy categories, ranging from 1.68 to 6.06 days after Medicaid expansion.

Medicaid expansion increased access to nursing home post-acute care for individuals younger than 65. It remains unclear if the benefit of post-acute care is the same among this group, or if the needs of younger individuals can be adequately met in this setting.