Your editorial on the proposed increase in Illinois tobacco taxes to replace the “granny tax” (July 3), perplexes me. The assumption that most nursing home residents are either Medicaid recipients or “have incomes that exceed roughly $50,000 a year” demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge on the subject.
A person’s need for nursing home care crosses all income groups. The majority of residents are impoverished within a few years of long term care, forcing Medicaid to take over. From my observation, most people who enter a nursing home never leave.
Many elderly people who are able to manage in a supervised retirement home setting instead enter a nursing home because they cannot afford the long-term cost of a retirement home, even though the cost is a fraction of nursing home costs. They know that, as a nursing home resident, the state will take over when their funds are exhausted.
