Long-term care services include personal care, nursing and home health care, habilitation and rehabilitation, adult day care, case management, social services, and assistive technology. These services are provided in a variety of settings from homes to residential housing to nursing facilities. Long-term care services may be needed on a regular or respite basis over a period of several months, several years, or a lifetime.
States bear substantial responsibility for long-term care.
They administer federal and state funds, and regulate nursing homes and home health agencies. Spending for long-term care services has placed a great demand on state budgets. The demographic data in this chartbook establish the framework for understanding how population aging will lead to a greater demand for formal long-term care by providing the percentage of the older population in each state and the proportion of those 65 and over who live alone. Currently, there are at least 265 million people in the United States. Of this population, 12.8 percent is age 65 and over.