The influence of rural location on utilization of formal home care: the role of Medicaid.

Purpose: This research examines the impact of rural-urban residence on formal home-care utilization among older people and determines whether and how Medicaid coverage influences the association between rural-urban location and risk of formal home-care use.

Design And Methods: We combined data from the 1998 consolidated file of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component with data from the Area Resource File to generate the analytical data set. We established two measures of formal home-care utilization: home care reimbursed through any source, and Medicare-reimbursed home health care.