Kentucky Long-Term Care: An AARP Survey

With Kentucky's age 65+ population projected to grow from 509,000 in 2000 to approximately 917,000 in 2025, an increase of 80%, it is likely that the state's long-term care (LTC) system will need to be expanded to increase the availability of existing services and to provide a broader range of services.

This survey explores the preferences of the 416,954 AARP members in Kentucky regarding their attitudes toward LTC services and their experience with them. The results indicate that nearly all (96%) of those surveyed feel it is very important to be able to stay in their own home as they age, and 73% strongly support increasing funds for services that would allow persons to stay in their own home, even if funds for nursing homes must be reduced.

Among other findings:

• If Kentucky members were receiving assistance from the state for LTC services to help them stay in their own homes, twice as many would prefer that the state pay them directly so they can hire the help they need for themselves or a family member rather than have the state pay an agency to provide services.
• Of the 23% who needed long-term care services for themselves or family members in the past five years, almost half say it was hard to find services they could afford.
• More than 80% think it should be a top or high priority for AARP in Kentucky to work on ensuring the availability of a broad range of LTC services to help people stay in their own homes.

The Kentucky Long-Term Care Survey was mailed to a random sample of 2,000 AARP members in Kentucky in February 2002. The report was prepared by Joanne Binette of AARP Knowledge Management who may be contacted for more information at 202/434-6303. (13 pages)