For skilled nursing facilities, the persistent underuse of LTSS supplemental benefits, such as in-home support and adult day health services, means fewer community-based alternatives to nursing home placement.
Long-Term Services and Supports in Supplemental Benefits in Medicare Advantage Plans
In this cohort study of 4521 MA plans in 2019 and 6614 MA plans in 2025, the availability of LTSS benefits within MA plans in 2025 was 12.3%, essentially the same as it was when benefits were first introduced in 2019 (12.9%). However, the share of MA beneficiaries enrolled in a plan offering LTSS decreased by 14 percentage points over the same time frame.
— JAMA Network Open, August 11, 2025
Bhaumik, Deepon and David C. Grabowski. “Long-Term Services and Supports in Supplemental Benefits in Medicare Advantage Plans.” JAMA Network Open, 11 Aug. 2025. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2837375.
Medicare Advantage LTSS offerings show little expansion
Since 2019, Medicare Advantage plans have been allowed to cover select long-term services and supports — such as in-home support, adult day health, caregiver support, home-based palliative care and non-opioid pain management. A new JAMA Network Open cohort study of 4,521 MA plans in 2019 and 6,614 in 2025 finds that plan offerings have changed little overall. In 2025, 12.3% of plans offered any LTSS benefit, essentially the same as 12.9% in 2019 (581 plans versus 814), the authors report.
— McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, August 11, 2025
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