New York Times May 10, 2019:

the new old age

A decade from now, most middle-income seniors will not be able to pay the rising costs of independent or assisted living.

Gretchen Harris, with her dog Alfie, at home in Norman, Okla. Paying for long-term care “weighs on my mind some,” she said.CreditBrett Deering for The New York Times

Gretchen Harris, with her dog Alfie, at home in Norman, Okla. Paying for long-term care “weighs on my mind some,” she said.CreditCreditBrett Deering for The New York Times

By Paula Span

• May 10, 2019

Gretchen  Harris likes the small brick house she bought in Norman, Okla., 36  years ago. She’s fond of her neighbors and the magnolia tree she planted  in the front yard. And having a single-story residence proved helpful  after knee replacement surgery last summer.

“It’s always been a good size for me,” she said.

But  Ms. Harris, 72, a retired attorney, has grappled with assorted health  problems — heart disease, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, osteoporosis,  rheumatoid arthritis — and takes a long list of prescription drugs.

Though  she feels well enough to hear cases a few days a month as a state  administrative law judge and to stay involved in educational and church  activities, she worries about the future.

“It  weighs on my mind some,” she said. Divorced, childless and without  family nearby, “I am going to need some long-term support, independent  or assisted living, rather than just living by myself.”

But will she be able to afford it on her income, $4,600 a month from a  state pension and Social Security? Ms. Harris has no retirement savings  and still pays a mortgage on her house, refinanced several times. 

She might be able to swing $3,425 for a one-bedroom apartment in assisted living, which an annual survey by Genworth,  a financial company, says is the current Oklahoma state median. But  that’s projected to hit $4,600 in 10 years; one assisted living facility  in Norman is already charging $4,260 and up. 

Even if she sold her house, Ms. Harris  calculates, she would fall short. “It’s the middle-class bind,” she  said. Too much money to qualify for Medicaid or subsidized housing, but  not enough to pay for long-term care, an industry that has primarily  pursued the well-off.

A recent analysis in Health Affairs, pointedly titled “The Forgotten Middle,” investigated how many middle-income seniors will be caught in that bind. The numbers were grim.

Using  data from the national Health and Retirement Study, including personal  income and assets and health status, the researchers defined the  middle-income cohort as Americans from the 41st to the 80th percentile  in terms of financial resources.

In 2029, for  people 75 to 84 (ages when they’re likely to need long-term care), that  would mean access to about $25,000 to $74,000 a year in current dollars.  Over age 85, the middle-income category extends to $95,000.

About 14.4 million people will fall into the middle-income category,  almost double the current number. Sixty percent will need canes,  walkers or wheelchairs to remain mobile, the analysis estimated, and 20  percent will need extensive help with the so-called activities of daily  living, such as bathing and dressing.

They’re  a better educated and more diverse group of older adults than in the  past, less likely to experience poverty. Still, most will be unable to  afford assisted living, the authors found.

A  decade hence, 80 percent of middle-income seniors will have less than  $60,000 a year in income and assets, not including equity in their  homes. Yet the estimated cost of assisted living plus out-of-pocket  medical expenses will hit $62,000, by the team’s conservative estimate.

“This  group gets ignored and underserved in today’s long-term care market,  and it’s a problem that’s going to explode over the next 20 years,” said  Caroline Pearson, a health researcher at Norc (formerly the National  Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago and lead author of  the study. “When you see the numbers, it’s sobering.”

Depending on how one defines the need, half to two-thirds of older Americans will eventually require long-term care.

Like  Ms. Harris, many consider selling their homes to finance it. (The  analysis includes assisted and independent living but omits nursing  homes, where Medicaid becomes a major payer.)

Even among  middle-income seniors with housing equity, though, more than half will  be unable to pay assisted living fees and medical costs in 2029, the  study found. (Independent living, while cheaper, provides some services  but no hands-on care.)

“Though a very  large percentage of older adults own homes, the amount of equity they  have isn’t as much as they think,” said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow  at the Urban Institute. “They’ve used home equity for other things,  including health care.”

Mr. Gleckman looked into housing equity as a member of the Long-Term Care Financing Collaborative,  a group of policy experts. “In places like New York or D.C., you might  think of a middle income house as worth close to a million bucks,” he  said. “In a lot of the country, the value of the house is $150,000.”

The  collaborative found that among 65- to 74-year-olds, the median  household had about $100,000 in home equity and an equal amount in other  assets. “It doesn’t go very far,” Mr. Gleckman said.

While  the Genworth survey puts the current national average for a one-bedroom  apartment in assisted living at $4,120 monthly, geographic variations  can be extreme, from about $3,700 in New Orleans to over $6,000 in  Boston.

Moreover, today’s  middle-income older adults have more debt and less savings than earlier  cohorts. They’re less likely to receive pensions and have smaller  families to turn to for unpaid care.

“A  lot of us are going to get stuck in this middle, and it’s pretty  scary,” said David Grabowski, a health policy researcher at the Harvard  Medical School and the new study’s senior author.

As it happens,  the same week the research was published, the federal government issued  its annual report on Medicare and Social Security solvency. Next year,  Social Security’s costs will start exceeding its income; the program is  projected to deplete its reserves in 16 years. Medicare will deplete its hospital fund in just seven years.

That  doesn’t mean either program will evaporate, but benefits will decline  if Congress doesn’t take action — as it always has — to shore up  financing.

“It’s hard to imagine that  Congress wouldn’t step up to make sure they remain viable for future  generations,” said Tricia Neuman, director of the Kaiser Family  Foundation’s Medicare policy program.

“At  the same time, there are tough choices to make, some of which could  make long-term care harder to afford.” An example: shifting additional  costs to Medicare beneficiaries.

The  United States, unlike many Western democracies, has never created a  broad public program covering long-term care. Medicare pays for doctors,  hospitals, drugs and short-term rehab after hospitalization — not for  independent or assisted living.

That  could change one day — imagine a new Medicare Part LTC — but “that will  be incredibly difficult to achieve politically,” Ms. Pearson said.

Policy  types instead suggest more incremental changes by both government and  industry. Perhaps Medicaid could cover seniors with slightly higher  incomes, or modify its regulations to include housing costs along with  health care.

The  federal government could expand the tax credits it gives developers of  low-income senior housing to encourage housing for middle-class seniors.  Assisted-living operators might aim for the middle market, with less  luxe décor.

Already, Dr. Grabowski pointed out, some chains are offering their own Medicare Advantage plans, which can now cover certain support services for residents.

“There’s some innovation happening here,” he said.

Gretchen  Harris may need senior housing before such innovations take hold,  however. She would find it distressing to leave Norman, where she’s  lived nearly all her adult life.

But if finances dictate, she’s contemplating a move to Little Rock, Ark. She has cousins there.

A version of this article appears in print on May 14, 2019, on Page D5 of the New York edition with the headline: Long on Care Needed. Short on Cash Necessary.. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe 

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