New Study of House Health Reform Bill: Ohio Faces Over $2.5 Billion in Medicare-Funded Nursing Home Cuts Over Ten Years
LEWIS CENTER, Ohio-(Business Wire)-August 26, 2009 - A new American Health Care Association (AHCA) analysis of the pending House health reform bill, combined with the impact of a recently-enacted Medicare regulation cutting Medicare-funded nursing home care by $12 billion over ten years, finds seniors in Ohio requiring nursing and rehabilitative care will face total funding cuts of more than $2.5 billion over that same time period, which equals the fifth highest state cut across the 50 states. Nationally, the study finds, seniors' Medicare cuts will total $44 billion over ten years, prompting Ohio’s long term care community to warn that seniors' care needs are endangered by the House bill, as are the jobs of more than 3,100 caregivers in Ohio alone.
This is on top of state cuts of $184 million to skilled nursing facilities imposed through the recently passed Ohio biennium budget process.
"We are greatly concerned about the impact proposed cuts will have on Ohio seniors' Medicare-funded nursing care. We urge lawmakers to consider how cuts of this size will affect senior care and ask that Congress revise its plan to ensure seniors are helped by reform measures," said Peter Van Runkle, Executive Director of the Ohio Health Care Association (OHCA). "Arguments being made that seniors' benefits will not be reduced by the House bill do not recognize that cuts would force providers to cut staff because labor expenses make up 70 percent of facility costs. Cutting staff within a facility has a direct impact on patients and their care."
The new analysis of the House bill's Medicare funding reductions over ten years (combined with the $12 billion ten year Medicare cuts just put into effect by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is computed by the AHCA Reimbursement and Research Department using the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score of both HR 3200 and the recent CMS funding rule, along with Medicare Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) utilization data.
Other states with cuts exceeding $1 billion over ten years include California, Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut and Tennessee.
In crafting a final bill, Van Runkle also urged lawmakers to take into account the fact the Medicaid program already under funds the cost of providing care by at least $281 million in Ohio according to Eljay, LLC, thereby already placing enormous stress on facilities and staff before federal Medicare cuts even enter the picture. "We believe Congress should preserve, protect and defend seniors' Medicare-funded nursing home care, and we respectfully ask lawmakers to do so when Congress reconvenes in September."
All 50 State Cut Data Available at www.ahca.org.
The Ohio Health Care Association is a non-profit association of more than 700 nursing facilities, assisted living residences and facilities for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, representing 60,000 beds. It is the largest long-term care association in the state, and the only chartered Ohio affiliate of the American Health Care Association, representing more than 12,000 long-term care facilities nationwide.
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