EQUITY IN FINANCING AND ACCESS TO LONG TERM CARE (MEDICAID, NURSING HOMES).
Contributors: Syracuse University.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 333
Subjects: Political Science, Public Administration.
Description: This study addresses, in two parts, a series of equity issues related to the financing and provision of long term care (LTC), particularly nursing home care. The first part consists of a review of equity concepts, "theories", and analysis techniques; background information on LTC; and a sketch of the major equity issues. The second part features three empirical exercises focusing on access to nursing homes, targeting of Medicaid LTC resources, and the interjurisdictional distribution of Medicaid LTC financing burdens. The access study uses logit analysis techniques on a specially constructed, nationally representative data set comprised of more than 45,000 observations on persons over age 65, including more than 1900 nursing homes residents. The principal finding of the access study is that among persons with one or more impairments in their Activities of Daily Living (ADL), whites are three times as likely to receive nursing home care as similarly-impaired non-whites (controlling for age, sex, and marital status). The study of Medicaid targeting of LTC resources uses multiple regression techniques on Medicaid program data by state. The results indicate that it cannot be said that state Medicaid programs are "shaped" by the needs of the poor elderly. There appears to be no relation between the share of the Medicaid program devoted to LTC and the relative size of the poor elderly population. The study also suggests that nursing home capacity and reimbursement levels are more important "shapers" of Medicaid programs than eligibility and benefit provisions. The study of the interjurisdictional distribution of Medicaid LTC financing burdens uses fiscal incidence analysis techniques on Medicaid program data for 1980. The study concludes that the Northeast region and the poor states. The price difference generated by the Medicaid formula is not great enough to induce the poor states to produce LTC services at the levels provided by the wealthy states.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-02, Section: A, page: 0515.

Thesis (PH.D.)--SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, 1984.

School code: 0659.