Washington, DC – In noting the ongoing state budgetary chaos caused by the national recession, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) today praised and thanked U.S. Representative Ron Kind (D-WI) for leading a key 
letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, signed by 26 House lawmakers, urging her to include in a final reconciliation package a key Medicaid provision to help address the state Medicaid funding shortfall jeopardizing patient care and destabilizing facility staffing.
“The structural Medicaid underfunding crisis combined with the crushing burden of new Medicaid cuts in state capitols across the nation threatens vulnerable seniors and those who provide their care,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. “The supplemental Medicaid funding provision must be an integral part of health care reform and we thank Congressman Kind and the letter’s signatories for fighting on behalf of their oldest, most vulnerable elderly constituents.”
Specifically, the letter thanks Speaker Pelosi for her inclusion of Section 1745 in HR 3692, and stresses the need to include it in a final reconciliation package. Representative Kind notes, “Section 1745 establishes a temporary 4 year program of supplemental payments directly from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to dually-certified nursing facilities with high percentages of Medicare and Medicaid patient days to assist them in meeting the costs of care to Medicaid beneficiaries.”
Says the letter to the Speaker: “Despite the fact that on any given day nearly 65 percent of the individuals receiving care in a nursing facility rely on Medicaid, it has long been recognized that the Medicaid program pays less than is required to provide quality care and services. In fact, a recent national study conducted by Eljay LLC projected there was $4.6 billion in unreimbursed nursing home Medicaid costs. This significant and chronic under funding presents an enormous challenge in providing high quality care to patients… With the nation’s long term and post-acute care profession committed to continued quality improvements in the care they provide, it is difficult to sustain these improvements in an environment of Medicaid underfunding.”
The House members signing the letter to Speaker Pelosi are U.S. Representatives:
Ron Kind (D-WI)
Christopher Murphy (D-CT)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Allyson Schwartz (D-PA)
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Joe Courtney (D-CT)
Tim Holden (D-PA)
Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA)
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
Mike Ross (D-AR)
John Garamendi (D-CA)
Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
James Oberstar (D-MN)
Bill Owens (D- NY)
Nick J. Rahall II (D-WV)
Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
John Olver (D-MA)
David Loebsack (D-IA)
Steve Kagen (D-WI)
Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
Michael Michaud (D-ME)
Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
Rick Boucher (D-VA)
Thomas Perriello (D-VA)
Bruce Braley (D-IA)
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Zachary Space (D-OH)
As the nation’s largest association of long term and post-acute care providers, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) advocates for quality care and services for frail, elderly and disabled Americans. Compassionate and caring employees provide essential care to one million individuals in our 11,000 not-for-profit and proprietary member facilities.