Oct. 1st: 11.1% rate slash will be applied to Medicare payments to nursing home facilities. [View All]

[madfloridian]

I guess it is really true. Seniors and disabled are really truly going to have shared sacrifice with billionaires. Funny thing, though, there is almost no discomfort at all to the billionaires.

I had heard these facilities were almost in panic about Medicare cuts already being made. I did NOT know about this 11.1% cut. Not much in the news about it either.

Nursing home operators are now looking for ways to cut spending in preparation of Medicare budget cuts that will take effect Oct. 1. The 11.1% rate slash will be applied to Medicare reimbursements paid to nursing home facilities that provide post-acute care and the news is shaking industry at all levels. Industry stock prices plummeted on the news, plans for new facilities are being abandoned and large facility operators are scrambling to offset what will amount to tens of millions of dollars in unreimbursed costs. For more on this continue reading the following article from National Real Estate Investor.

Here is more about the drastic cuts coming Oct 1.

Elder Care Facilities Floored by Medicare Cuts

The nursing home industry suffered a startling setback July 29 when the federal government announced that Medicare rates will be slashed by 11.1% starting Oct. 1.

The unexpected rate cut has sent nursing home operators scrambling to figure out how to pare expenses. Stocks of publicly traded nursing home companies plummeted by as much as 50% on the first day of trading after the announcement.

.."“We were stunned by the announcement,” says John Taylor, president and CEO at Stonegate Senior Living, a Texas-based nursing home developer and operator. “We did not expect this.”

The cuts are being made to Medicare reimbursements paid to nursing facilities for seniors receiving post acute care. This care is provided to Medicare recipients recovering from surgery or an illness who require rehabilitative services before retuning home.

This is shocking from a Democratic administration. Here is more about how these cuts will cripple home health care agencies.

..."Large adjustments to home health payments will have a significant and alarming impact on the financial viability of home health providers, says NAHC, which could threaten access to a system of care that many seniors prefer.

CMS contended in its proposal that the adjustment was warranted because there has been limited change in patient acuity in the past few years, but NAHC countered by saying there is strong evidence showing patients to be sicker than ever and in need of the extensive care that has made care costs rise significantly.

J.K. Galbraith had some powerful words recently about liberals and progressives standing up for things that are vital.

What is at stake in the long run? Two things, mainly, in my view. First, it seems to me that we as progressives need to make an honorable defense of the great legacies of the New Deal and Great Society -- programs and institutions that brought America out of the Great Depression and bought us through the Second World War, brought us to our period of greatest prosperity, and the greatest advances in social justice. Social Security, Medicare, housing finance -- the front-line right now is the foreclosure crisis, the crisis, I should say, of foreclosure fraud -- the progressive tax code, anti-poverty policy, public investment, public safety, and human and civil rights. We are going to lose these battles-- get used to it. But we need to make an honorable fight, to state clearly what our principles are and to lay down a record which is trustworthy for the future.

..."We are not going to get these things, but we should have a clearly defined program so that people know what they are. And then, frankly, as was said earlier today, said most elegantly by Jeff Madrick, in the long run we need to recognize that the fate of the entire country is at stake. Its governance can't be entrusted indefinitely to incompetents, hacks, and lobbyists. Large countries can and do fail, they have done so in our own time. And the consequences are very grave: drastic declines in services, in living standards, in life expectancies, huge increases in social tension, in repression, and in violence. These are the consequences of following through with crackpot ideas such as those embodied in the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, as Jeff Madrick again outlined, such notions as putting arbitrary limits on the scale of government, or arbitrary limits on the top tax rate affecting the wealthiest Americans.

This isn't a parlor game. The outcome isn't destined to be alright. It will not necessarily end in progress whatever happens. What we do, how we proceed, and how we effectively resist what is plainly about to happen, matters very greatly for the future of our country, of our children, and of another generation to come. We need to lose our fear, our hesitation, and our unwillingness to face the facts. If we thereby lose some of our hopes, let's remember the dictum of William of Orange that "it is not necessary to hope in order to persevere."

The President should know that, as Lincoln said to the Congress in the dark winter of 1862, he "cannot escape history." And we are heading now into a very dark time, so let's face it with eyes open. And if we must, let's seek leadership that shares our values, fights for our principles, and deserves our trust."

Whose Side Is the White House On?

This is a Democratic forum. When concerned posts are made about the cuts to the social safety net, there are often few responses. More than likely there are many negative responses which seem in denial about these cuts.

In fact today a DUer, jtown1123, posted a link to a group which is starting a no-cuts campaign.

That post has had to be kicked all day long, and it has been mostly ignored. That says a lot about the ease with which we accept that the most vulnerable among us are being harmed by a Democratic administration.