This article examines transitions between the community and nursing homes among the private pay and the Medicaid eligible older (65 +) persons. Discrete-time hazard functions were estimated to determine factors associated with the probability of these transitions. The analysis shows that recent hospitalizations for stroke, dementia, or hip fractures, while strongly predictive of nursing home admissions among the Medicaid elderly, were not significant (except for dementia) predictors for the private pay population. The results are of particular relevance in designing long-term care insurance, and more broadly, long-term care policy.