As Sunday, May 9th heralds the beginning of National Nursing Home Week (NNHW), we applaud the House Democratic Caucus for introducing a Seniors Bill of Rights – which specifically mentions the fact older Americans rely heavily upon Medicare and Medicaid, and that U.S. seniors deserve high quality, affordable long term care.
National Nursing Home Week is about recognizing the contributions of nursing home patients and staff who enrich the lives of so many in our communities, and that increasing numbers of our citizens – because of age, social needs, disability, trauma or illness – will require long term care services at some point in their lives.
The Seniors Bill of Rights is recognition that adequate, stable and consistent Medicaid and Medicare funding has and will always will be directly linked with high care quality and staffing stability. With seventy percent of facility costs directly related to staffing, ongoing funding adequacy from Washington will be critical to ensuring the safety net at the state level does not fray as Governors across America contend with budgetary crises of historic proportions.
We specifically thank Co-Chairs on the Congressional Task Force on Seniors, U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui (D-CA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and the House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-CT) and Vice Chair Xavier Becerra (D-CA) for helping lead the effort to introduce the Seniors Bill of Rights congressional resolution, and for helping to remind every citizen that the continued provision of quality nursing home care for every American who requires it is a non-partisan public health imperative.
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.