If Nonprofit Nursing Homes Outperform Private Equity, Can Policy Catch Up? | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.

"While an aging population is obviously a stressor on the system, shortfalls in US eldercare stem not just from an increasingly aged population, but rather from a combination of profit-driven ownership and ageist ideology, which together produce devastating outcomes. The numbers do not lie. Data show that private equity increases nursing home mortality by 10 percent, resulting in over 20,000 deaths in 12 years."

"Cultural views of aging as inevitable decline make this harm and death politically acceptable. Stuart Kaplan and Marcus Riley, both of whom lead nonprofits, in a forthcoming book titled Your Aging Advantage: The 7 New Stages of Aging, show what is possible when structural protections afforded by nonprofits become the norm rather than the exception. Data show that private equity increases nursing home mortality by 10 percent, resulting in over 20,000 deaths in 12 years."

"Before considering their perspective, it's worth considering how ageism affects nursing care today. Margaret Morganroth Gullette's scholarship shows how age ideology enables and sustains extraction through three interconnected mechanisms that create conditions ripe for exploitation. First, decline narratives justify inadequate care and poverty wages by framing aging as inevitable deterioration that requires only custodial warehousing instead of skilled, dignified care."

Shortfalls in US eldercare result from the combination of profit-driven ownership and pervasive ageist ideology rather than demographic aging alone. Private equity ownership is associated with a 10 percent increase in nursing home mortality, accounting for over 20,000 deaths in 12 years. Cultural narratives that portray aging as inevitable decline make neglect and lethal outcomes politically acceptable. Nonprofit-led models that embed structural protections suggest alternatives that could improve care. Ageism operates through decline narratives that justify low-quality custodial care and poverty wages, labor-market discrimination that economically weakens older adults, and segregation that enables exploitation.

Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.