Boulder’s Golden West assistant living facility announced it will close its doors on March 4. Its closure will leave only three assisted living facilities in Boulder County that accept Medicaid as a payment option.
In the last year, four other assisted living facilities in the county have either closed or canceled their Medicaid contracts in the last year, according to Erica Corson, Long-term Care ombudsman at Boulder County.
Older adults in the county who rely on Medicaid may be less likely to be able to age in the community they are comfortable in, Corson said.
Corson said there have never been many facilities that have accepted Medicaid but the COVID-19 pandemic really hit facilities hard as private pay clients moved out.
Facilities, like Golden West, rely on private pay clients to make up for low Medicaid reimbursement.
Corson relayed that assisted care facilities report that “what Medicaid pays is not sufficient to sustain their businesses.”
Monthly assisted living costs can be as low as $3,350 or as high as $5,000 with the average coming in around $4,095 per month in 2020, according to Paying For Senior Care’s website.
“These changes in availability of long-term care has highlighted the need for more awareness about how it all works,” an entry in this month’s Aging Well in Boulder County newsletter states.
The Boulder County Long-Term Care Ombudsman program will host an information session on Feb. 7 at noon. During the session, the ombudsman hopes to bring awareness on what things people need to think about and clarify misconceptions accompanying long-term care, such as Medicare paying for long-term care services, Corson said.
“I think the concern is broader than long-term care, it’s really something that is more of an advocacy piece. We want the people who are making legislation and policies around the services that we need as we age to be aware of what these concerns are so that there is an eye toward that as they are implementing laws,” Corson said.
