Cost of Health Care

Total expenditures for nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) fell last year. Nursing care facility and CCRC expenditures rang in at $181.3 billion last year, compared with $196.9 billion in 2020. Between 2019 and 2020, expenditures in this sector had grown by 13.1%.

While nursing care facilities and CCRCs received fewer dollars from these programs in 2021 compared with 2020, expenditures from other payers did increase year-over-year, including: Medicaid, 1.4% increase; Medicare, 1.9% increase; and other health insurance (such as VA), 5.1% increase.

Medicaid was the largest payer for nursing facilities and CCRCs, with total expenditures of $54.3 billion last year.

Safe staffing– above the safe minimum of 4.1 hours–would only cost an additional $1.3 billion per year.