Written by Alyssa Gerace of Senior Housing News for ALFA Update In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the need for—and awareness of—supplemental options for paying for senior living has grown substantially, spurring the growth of relationships between senior living providers and senior funding sources. The economic downturn, burgeoning senior population, and ongoing budget crisis have combined to create an environment in which a growing number of seniors struggle to leverage their home equity with a lessening ability to rely on government programs to fund…
Posts tagged "Senior Budget Cuts"
Majority of States Proposing Medicaid Cuts for Fiscal Year 2012
Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said, “My worry is that Medicare is now considered untouchable by Democrats and therefore we’ll turn to Medicaid. There isn’t the passion to defend Medicaid because the Medicaid population doesn’t represent a political threat.” In an interview with KHN, Rockefeller discussed his concerns for the program and for the people who rely on it. Facing budget shortfalls and a sluggish economy, many U.S. states are proposing Medicaid cuts for fiscal year 2012, according to a new report from the National Association…
Senior Budget Cuts, State Health CareMedicaid Budgets Comes Under Fire to Reduce Spending on Services
A report tracking Medicaid spending going back over the last seven years showed that Medicaid underfunded payments for services to all patients by $14.17 everyday in 2009. Projections are that this alarming Medicaid underfunding trend will get worse in 2010 and 2011. The economic crisis has robbed state budgets of funds available to support Medicaid funded programs and as a result there was a national deficit of almost $5 billion. Medicaid funds at least 2/3 of all spending for nursing home care. Spending shortfalls of…
Medicaid, Senior Budget CutsAARP Supports Health Reform Bill’s $460 Billion Cuts to Medicare
In a move that will bolster the Democratic coalition in the Senate and the need to hold on to 60 votes, the AARP announced their support today for the reform plan that includes massive reductions to Medicare. AARP says that the cuts will be paid for in reduced waste and fraud, improved efficiencies and elimination of duplicative benefits. The support of AARP is a huge boost for Democrats that have been struggling to keep the 60 votes needed to prevent a filibuster that would kill…
AARP, Medicare, Senior Budget CutsNo Cost of Living Adjustment for Social Security recipients for the first time in 35 years
Another sign of things to come for seniors in the 21st Century: for the first time since the darkest days of the economic crisis of the 1970’s, seniors will not see a cost of living increase in their Social Security checks. Combine this new development with proposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and the trend for seniors is becoming clearer every day. The realities of a global economic recession intersecting with explosive growth in the senior populations will create increasing pressures for the United States….
Senior Budget CutsMedicare and Medicaid Cuts, and Paying for Your Own Long Term Care
66% of residents in an assisted living facility in 2009 reported being the primary source of payment for the costs of housing and care. The impact of the economic recession has hit seniors and their families hard with an almost 60% drop in the number of families able to contribute to a loved ones care. The trend of more seniors being solely responsible for the costs of housing and care will only be made worse as the combination of a slow economic recovery and additional…
Long Term Care Cost, Senior Budget CutsMedicare and Medicaid Budget Cuts Threatens Quality of Senior Care
The federal government plans to cut $16 billion of funding out of Medicare for nursing home care over the next ten years. In addition, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on cutting $45 billion out of Medicare funding as part of their proposed health care “reform” legislation. The combined impact of these cuts with the shrinking dollars in every state to fund Medicaid budgets is the greatest threat to quality of care for our nation’s seniors in history. Seniors rely on Medicare to fund…
Senior Budget CutsPresident Obama’s Budget calls for $295 billion cut out of Medicare and Medicaid over next ten years
The President’s budget proposal calls for a reduction in Medicare and Medicaid spending over the next ten years of $295 billion. The President’s goal is for the savings to help pay for the cost of coming health care reform legislation. Among the targeted areas for cuts are spending on home health care and freezing reimbursement rates for skilled nursing homes. Readers of this Blog know that we have been talking about the reality of these cuts for a long time. There is no escaping the…
Health Care for Seniors, Senior Budget CutsEconomy Hitting State budgets Hard, Medicaid Cuts Expected in 2009
As states all across this country prepare budgets for 2009, one thing is clear: revenues are down, but the need to spend is never down. Every state is facing a fiscal crisis unlike anything in the past. California, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah are all looking at freezing or even reducing the numbers of people on Medicaid in their states. Some states will start making it even more difficult to qualify and then remain Medicaid eligible. Requirements to reapply twice a…
Economic Crisis, Senior Budget Cuts