Health Pros Make Medicare Cuts NC Election Issue

In advance of North Carolina's Democratic presidential primary tomorrow, state and national long term care leaders today urged candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to help make an immediate difference in the lives of North Carolina's seniors by publicly opposing and committing to work with their Senate colleagues to overturn a new Bush Administration regulatory action that was announced on May 1, which would cut Medicare-financed nursing home care in North Carolina by $22.1 million and $770 million nationwide in the year ahead.

That's according to a statement issued by the American Health Care Association (AHCA).

A key component of a newly-issued regulation promulgated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will slash Medicare-financed nursing home care in North Carolina by $22.1 million for FY 2009 or about $10.32 per patient, per day, according to initial analysis of the new regulation by the AHCA.

"Action taken last week by the Bush Administration will reduce vital Medicare funding to North Carolina's skilled nursing homes," says Craig Souza, president of the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association (NCHCFA). "Cuts of this magnitude ($22.1 million) will impair our ability
to maintain vital staff and services for our elderly and disabled residents. With the North Carolina primary just hours away, I hope Senators Clinton and Obama will speak as forcefully about this issue and pledge to oppose the administration's harmful cuts."

Bruce Yarwood, president and CEO of AHCA, praised both Senators Clinton and Obama for discussing ongoing long term care financing challenges during the presidential campaign, but said that weighing in on this specific effort by the Bush administration would be an enormous help to already forming bipartisan Senate support to overturn the proposed Medicare cut.

"To have Senators Clinton and Obama publicly announce their opposition to these regulatory-driven Medicare cuts in advance of Tuesday's primary would be a major development, and a significant help," says Yarwood. "On behalf of North Carolina's most vulnerable seniors and the caregivers who serve them, we respectfully ask both candidates for assistance in rallying both public and congressional opposition to these harmful cuts, which have not been subjected to the level of public scrutiny that an action with so many negative public health consequences warrants."

Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have both issued letters strongly opposing the new Medicare regulation. In a letter to CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems, Senator Roberts says, "Medicare cuts of this magnitude would create serious instability in the nation's skilled nursing care system and undermine ongoing efforts to continue to improve quality." Senator Wyden concurs and states in a letter to Health & Human Secretary Michael Leavitt, who oversees Weems' agency, "Payment policy should support, not undercut, SNFs' ability to care for the growing number of high-acuity patients who need intensive rehabilitation."

Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:



Bookmark http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/ and drop back in for more news from the nation's capital.