The need for home health care in the United States is growing at an exponential amount. Even during the economic downturn, people are still getting older. The home health care sector has seen steady gains even in the midst of the bailout plan rejection. The 25 businesses that are in the IBD home health care sector are up 25% since the middle of March. During the week's turbulence, the top stocks have all held strong. The strong hold on stocks has been due to the aging baby boomers. In 2007, more than 9000 home health care agencies provided care to more than 3 million patients.



Home health services are expected to grow each year ending at 119 billion dollars by 2017.The figure could be anywhere from 10% to 15% growth each year over the coming years. The industry is incredibly fragmented with the top four earners only making up 12 to 15% of the industry's revenue. This means that there is plenty of room for companies to come in with reasonable barrier of entry.

Part of the growth is due to acquisitions. There is a favorable exchange rate that allows publicly traded companies to use their stock and buy off private firms.

Because the government has such a hold on the funding of home health care options, changes in legislation are a major concern for stock holders of publicly traded companies. Medicare and Medicaid account for 55% of the funding toward home health care services. Reimbursement issues are always a concern for home health companies.

Home health care companies are in a unique position as insurers are trying to hack away at healthcare costs. For tax payers, home health care is a more favorable option because it is so much cheaper than having to foot hospital bills.

Many chronic diseases such as diabetes, chronic obstructive disease, and renal disease can be treated effectively at home making it an attractive option. These companies market to occupational therapists and hospital discharge planners. It is important for these companies to gain referrals from these trusted health care sources.

This also means the non medical home health care employment will be more in the market. It will give caregivers and certified nursing assistants another opportunity to employ their skills. The truth is we as a nation are growing older. With the baby boomer generation growing older and retiring, there is a great strain on the squeeze generation ages 40-60 who need to take care of their parents as well as their children.

More and more people are moving to home health care as an alternative to nursing homes. There is also an increase in the number of people seeking their own caregivers independently. This gives people the advantage of determining their own set of responsibilities and the type of service they require right out of the gate.

Whatever the case, more and more people are turning to care for their chronic disease instead of acute care. This will shift the insurance burden from term life insurance and accident insurance to long term care insurance as more people will require long term health care.