Congress and the Administration Protect Seniors
August 1st, 2008
The Bush Administration reversed proposed Medicare cuts yesterday, which, thanks to a number of key Republican and Democratic congressional leaders, prevented the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from cutting $770 million in Medicare funding for seniors’ nursing home care in FY 2009 and more than $5 billion over the next five years.
The bottom-line is that Medicare beneficiaries are deservedly the big winners, and will continue to benefit from ready access to the high quality, post-acute care they need and deserve. Members of the House and Senate worked effectively in bipartisan fashion with the Administration to ensure U.S. seniors’ ongoing care needs are protected. As the largest association of dedicated long term care providers in the U.S., the American Health Care Association (AHCA) thanks Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Norm Coleman (R-MN) and John Sununu (R-NH), and House Members Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Shelley Berkley (D-NV), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) for rallying the support of nearly half the U.S. Senate and over 110 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who urged CMS to prevent the cuts.
Each year, more than 3 million frail, elderly and disabled Americans receive high quality skilled nursing care funded by Medicare. The importance of this program cannot be overlooked in light of the fact that millions more are receiving Medicaid-funded care in the same nursing homes. While these two programs are by definition separate, their relationship in the long term care setting is undeniable. Medicaid consistently “underfunds” nursing facility care across the nation by an average of approximately $13.10 per patient per day. That shortfall in 2007 totaled $4.4 billion nationally. Stable Medicare funding is essential to quality long term care. We appreciate that the Administration and Congress not only understand that critical link, but through their actions yesterday demonstrated the importance of quality long term care for America’s most vulnerable seniors.
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