The HCIA data set contains population breakdowns by gender and age for every state. HCIA also gathers data from state governments on the total beds available statewide in the nursing home industry. They used these figures, multiplied by 365, to calculate bed-days available yearly in each state. Researchers took county level data on the long-term care output and demographic characteristics of each county. The file contains county level data on the number of long-term care facilities, the total number of beds in all such facilities and the total number of residents in each facility.
Researchers define long-term care as the care of an individual with a chronic condition.
If one partner falls into frailty before the other, researchers assume that the healthy partner cares for the frail one at home. If both partners become frail, researchers assume that the both require market based long-term care. Finally, all healthy widows are matched to healthy widowers until the supply of healthy widowers runs out, assuming that the number of healthy widows always exceeds that of healthy widowers. Background Since 1960 the share of the U.S. population above 65 years of age has grown substantially, from about 9 percent to 14 percent. In most developed countries, the share of public spending on the elderly has increased in line with the growth in the older populations.