Effects of Rising Costs in Long-Term Care Facilities Rising costs in long-term care have a negative effect on the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care received by residents and patients. Due to this, long-term care is a major weakness in the United States health care system.
High Costs in Long-Term Care is a Weakness in the American Health Care System The cost of long-term living facilities is a major weakness of the United States health care system because it is expensive with not enough staff to properly care for the residents. Due to the high expenses, it is getting harder and harder for residents to afford to live in these facilities. As a result, long-term care facilities are seeing less residents coming in which is
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According to an article titled Administration on Aging from as cited in Basics of the U.S. Health Care System by author Nancy J. Niles, they state “An average monthly cost cost for a semiprivate room in a nursing facility is $6235, compared with $4000 for an assisted-living facility (Niles, pg. 150).” This number can be upwards of double what most Americans will pay in monthly mortgages for their home. Due to this, many residents have to use different forms of insurance to pay for their rent and other bills associated with living in the nursing home. Some people will even decline the need to be placed in a long-term care facility because they know they can’t afford it which. The more common types of insurances used by residents include Medicare, Medicaid, or other types of private insurance. While this greatly helps out residents to be able to afford the care they need, it also puts a damper on profits for the facility which leads to an increase in monthly rent for residents. Another effect of low profits is that nursing homes are sometimes unable to give staff raises which increases employee turnover. Nurses will either transfer to a different field in healthcare, like hospitals and clinics, or switch industries to get a higher paying