Last week The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. nursing homes are "forcing out frail and ill residents" and replacing them "with shorter-term residents likely to bring more revenue."

While federal law permits nursing-home evictions in some circumstances, state officials and patient advocates say facilities often go too far, seeking to evict those who are merely inconvenient or too costly. Residents with dementia or demanding families are among the most vulnerable, particularly if...they depend on Medicaid to pay their bills, the officials and advocates say.

Those on Medicaid bring facilities as little as half what they can get from residents who pay out of pocket, with private health insurance or through Medicare, the federal-state health program for the elderly.

This is key: Medicaid reimbursements to nursing homes were $4.4 billion less than the cost of treating beneficiaries last year, the Journal reports, and approximately two-thirds of nursing home residents who stay in facilities more than 90 days depend on Medicaid to pay their bills.

That's also fair warning to aging Americans who think the government will be there for them if they don't invest in their own long-term care insurance.