Over 9 Million Views and Counting: King Goes Viral for Promoting Money-Saving Falls Prevention Measures

WASHINGTON, D.C. -U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME) has ignited a national conversation over a simple and common-sense way to prevent household injuries for older Americans while also saving taxpayers billions of dollars. In fact, his proposal advocating for bathmats is approaching nearly 10 million views across several social media platforms and garnering significant media discussion.

In a special hearing of the Senate Committee on Aging focused on falls prevention last week, Senator King used the simple, inexpensive example of a bathmat to show that a small investment of $11 per recipient could drastically decrease Medicare and Medicaid payouts associated with the repercussions of dangerous falls

"Much like an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure, an $11 bathmat sure beats a $30,000 hospital trip," said Senator King of his trending status online. "Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults in the U.S, and it's reassuring that so many people are drawn to a simple, cost-saving measure that can ensure the health and safety of older Americans. As Americans grow more concerned over the growing federal deficit, it's irresponsible to not be looking at upfront investments that save taxpayer dollars in the long run."

During his opening remarks at last Wednesday's hearing- in the moment that attracted millions of viewers online - Senator King explained his thinking:

"This is an $11 bathmat. I'm the Johnny Appleseed of bathmats. Whenever I go to see somebody and they don't have one of these in their shower, I buy one and send it to them. Now, here is the proposal, though. Why doesn't [the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)] send one of these to every Medicare recipient in the country? I did the back-of-the-envelope calculation; it would pay for itself in about 9 months. This is $11. I suspect if CMS bought them by the millions, they could get a deal. And it would have a noticeable effect on the number of falls, a very simple idea. Along with that is, and I have some legislation along this line, allow CMS to spend money on prevention things like grab bars and bathmats. Right now, Medicare will pay for a broken hip, but they won't pay for a grab bar in your shower. That's just insane. And so, I think, Mr. Chairman, that's one of the things we need to do, is authorize, Medicare to get much more active in the prevention area. And to provide things like this, I'm not kidding. Send out 20 or 30 million of these, and you will see the hundred-million-dollar cost of falls fall significantly," said Senator King.

The cost-benefit case for Senator King's proposal is straightforward: there are 69 million Americans enrolled in Medicare, meaning an $11 bath mat for each of them would cost $759 million dollars. The cost would also likely be much lower with a price break per bathmat for such a large order.

According to a 2024 report from the National Institute of Health, Medicare spent over $50 billion dollars on direct medical expenses related to falls - with the average fall-related injury costing about $20,000. With as many as 80 percent of falls for older Americans occurring in the shower, and bath mats recommended by the National Institute on Aging, the savings to Medicare (and taxpayers) for falls avoided could be as high as $10 for every single dollar put into bathmats in the first year; the savings over three years would be in excess of 15 billion dollars.

As the Senate Aging hearing highlighted, falls happen for many reasons and no one-size fits all solution will prevent every older adult fall. Annual physicals, or annual wellness visits under Medicare, are an opportunity for providers to assess these changes and make clinical recommendations, but adding home modifications is another step in preventing falls. For example, Johns Hopkins University's CAPABLE model is a demonstrated falls prevention cost-saver that, through incorporating home modifications prevented about $30,000 in costs per recipient.

Preventing falls is also about enabling adults to age comfortably in their homes, which is where most Americans want to age. At a time of affordability challenges and when inflation continues to rise, preventing falls is also cost saver for the average American and the taxpayers, with a private nursing home room cost now averaging more than $120,000 per year.

As an extension of his longtime focus on prevention efforts, Senator King has been leading the charge in the falls prevention space. Senator King introduced the 'Stand Strong' legislative package, which included the Stand Strong Falls Prevention Act that would require the development of a National Falls Prevention Plan. The package also included the Preventive Home Visits Act, which would provide Medicare coverage for qualified care providers to assess the safety of seniors' homes, and the Wellness and Education for Longer Lives (WELL) for Seniors Act, which would improve Medicare's Annual Wellness Visit to encourage seniors and their physicians to work together and confront health issues before they become more serious.

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