Washington, DC – The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) today praised a provision included in the recently-passed the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (H.R. 2), which calls for establishing a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC). The commission would review the Medicaid program, and make policy recommendations to Congress annually.
“We are hopeful this new Commission will provide Congress with a new, credible forum to discuss specific ways to strengthen our nation’s Medicaid payment system, and to ensure the growing needs of America’s most vulnerable frail, elderly and disabled beneficiaries are met now and in the years ahead,” said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA.
The new Commission will review payment policies under Medicaid and CHIP, including the factors affecting expenditures in different sectors, including the process for updating hospital, skilled nursing facility, physicians and other fees.
Yarwood said the gap between the cost of providing quality care to our seniors and the dollar amount actually provided by Medicaid for such services remains an enormous problem for seniors and providers alike – and noted that the funding gap amounts to approximately $4.2 billion annually, according to a 2008 study by Eljay, LLC.
“We look forward to working constructively with the new Medicaid Commission to enhance the visibility of eldercare funding issues, and continually assessing how we can sustain the long term viability of Medicaid at a time when demographic trends portend an ever greater need for quality long term care and services,” Yarwood concluded.
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.