Argentum released an updated edition of The Value of Assisted Living in America. The industry-leading report makes clear the critical role that assisted living plays in caring our nation’s seniors, in offering significantly lower costs, improved quality of life, better health outcomes, and reduced health care costs for public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and veterans’ care.
The report includes a host of findings and offers several policy solutions, including:
- Improve access to assisted living for veterans. Current Veteran benefit programs created to assist veteran populations are under-utilized and in need of reform. If the Aid and Attendance benefit is effectively utilized, veterans could receive the care they need in the setting of their choice instead of having no choice but to go into the Medicaid program.
- Increase access and affordability and expand workforce training programs. Federal legislation would establish a cost-reduction program for lower-income seniors and workforce training programs to offer specializations in senior care to meet the needs of older adults.
- Promote socialization and support our caregiver’s family care needs. The Social Engagement and Network Initiatives for Older Relief (SENIOR) Act and the Care Across Generations Act would help seniors stay more connected and offer caregivers with children of childcare age on-site placement, as many workers report difficulties with finding reliable childcare.
- Promote tax reforms to invest in workforce development. The Improve and Enhance the Work Opportunity Tax Credit Act would help more long-term care communities hire caregivers.
- Support Foreign-born Workforce Programs. Increasing immigrant flows into the US may be one actionable policy solution to ensure there is an adequate workforce to ensure the rapidly aging population has access to quality long-term care.
- Strengthen Long-Term Care Insurance. Several measures have been proposed to improve the viability of private long-term care insurance.
- Increase Public Program Reimbursements. Inadequate reimbursements have limited the ability for assisted living communities to participate.
Among the reports findings include:
- Every day, approximately 11,200 Americans turn 65. According to a 2023 Census Bureau report, the median age of the population increased from 30.0 in 1980 to 38.9 in 2022, with one-third (17) of states now having a median age over 40.
- The population of Americans aged 85 and older—the group that typically requires the most care—will increase from 1.95% of the population in 2022 to 2.48% by 2030 and explode to 22.77% by the year 2050.
- The holistic model of assisted living results in consistently high levels of resident satisfaction, equaling or exceeding that of many other industries. Based on national surveys, 90% of senior residents report high satisfaction with their care and communities, 99% indicate they feel safe in their communities, 91% feel safer than living at home, and 85% of families report high value in their loved one’s community.
- A 2024 U.S. News & World Report survey of older Americans and their families found that nearly all of the respondents (99%) said they felt safe at their senior living community, with more than 2 in 3 respondents (67%) responding they always felt safe at their senior living community. Further, nearly all respondents (98%) said they trusted the staff at their senior living community to care for their well-being. Most respondents were happy with their choice and 94% said they had made friends since moving into their senior living community. More than 4 in 5 respondents (86%) did not regret moving into their senior living community.
- According to the 2024 J.D. Power Senior Living Satisfaction Survey, assisted living communities received a satisfaction score of 855 (on a 1,000-point scale), up 18 points from the prior year, and higher in comparison to the travel and hospitality industries. The increase is driven by improvements in satisfaction with the price paid for services for services received (+24 points); community staff (+19); community buildings and grounds (+17); and effective problem resolution.
- A University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found that adults aged 50 to 80 who live alone report higher rates of social isolation than those who live with others. This is in line with a national survey of more than 130,000 assisted living residents, which found that just 14.3% of senior living residents reported being lonely, compared to 29.9% of seniors who live alone.
- The gap between what Americans have saved for retirement and what they need has grown significantly—$28 trillion in 2015 and projected to reach $137 trillion by 2050.
- By 2040 more than 20 million workers will be needed across long-term care, with total employment projected to reach almost 8.3 million, an increase of some 2.5 million jobs—or 42.1%—from 2021. Among these positions include a need for more than 12 million home health and personal care aides, more than 1 million nurses between RNs and LPNs, more than 2 million nurse assistants, more than 1 million in food service, more than 300,000 in housekeeping, and more than 700,000 in office and administration.
- There is not nearly enough supply of senior housing to meet these care needs. The National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC) estimates that approximately 881,000 additional units of assisted living inventory will be needed to serve seniors by 2030.
- Estimates suggest that the development cost associated with needed production of assisted living will exceed $1 trillion by 2050. Insufficient investment in development will dramatically limit access to quality living options for some seniors and make existing options more expensive for all.
