The need to increase nursing home funding for Medicaid recipients.
Governor Rendell's decision to have no increase for the care of seniors in nursing home facilities in his recently proposed $28.3 billion dollar budget is a travesty and a recipe for disaster.
In a state that ranks as the fourth oldest according to the last census report, our seniors are a significant portion of our population and sufficient funding for their care should be an important issue to all Pennsylvanians.
While Governor Rendell has made great efforts in improving community-care and at-home care for low income seniors, the plain truth is many elderly people require nursing home care and that number only stands to grow as our population continues to age.
According to Forbes.com, currently eighty thousand of Pennsylvania's 1.9 million Medicaid recipients reside in nursing homes. According to Ron Barth, CEO of the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Homes for the Aging (PANPHA), 2-of-3 Pennsylvania nursing home residents are on Medicaid Assistance and, while nursing home costs have increased 27 percent from 2001-2005, medical assistance reimbursements have only increased 18 percent. In an article published in the Allentown Morning Call, Barth explains that the shortfall is being made up by rate increases to private-pay residents.
Barth describes the rate increase as a "hidden tax", which is true, but it is also a recipe for disaster. Raising the rates on those that can afford to pay today will only liken the chances that they will deplete their funds quicker than anticipated and also be forced to rely on Medicaid Assistance. While not budgeting increases in funding for nursing home care today might seem like fiscal responsibility in the present wake of economic strife, it is setting the stage to create a perpetual money drain for the future.
Outside of economics, the duress and care shortfalls this lack of increased funding places on seniors needs addressed from a moral standpoint as well. These people are consistently and deservedly referred to as "our greatest generation", yet it would appear some members of our state government want to put their needs at the back of the line. Barth cites Rendell's budgeting of $110 million for laptop computers for students as a prime example of just such a budgeting error. While the quality of education is also a critical issue, quality of life for Pennsylvania seniors must take precedence.
Fiscal responsibility by Pennsylvania's government is a noble and daunting task; however, we should not confuse tightening our proverbial belts with tightening the noose on Pennsylvania's seniors. Governor Rendell's proposed budget must be revised to include increased funding for Pennsylvania Medicaid recipients that reside in nursing home care.
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