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The health care bill being rushed through the U.S. Congress could cause “an unimaginable amount of harm” to nursing home residents and communities in Greater Minnesota, administrators and workers said Friday.
The administration and staff of Luther Haven Nursing Home in Montevideo, a city of about 5,200 residents located in western Minnesota, made a rare joint appearance to speak out against the Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act. A similar event was planned later Friday in Balaton, a town of about 600 people located near Marshall.
“The vast majority of our direct patient care staff is represented by the Service Employees International Union ‘SEIU’ Healthcare Minnesota and we’ve had disagreements in the past,” said Luther Haven Nursing Home administrator Jim Flaherty. “But one thing we do agree on is that the current health care plan being rushed through in Washington, D.C., is wrong for Minnesota. The current plan could take away health care from thousands of Minnesota families and specifically harm nursing home residents in Montevideo and all over Greater Minnesota.”
Flaherty, who was joined by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota organizer Julie Boots and workers at the facility, said the plan undermines both the federal Medicaid system and reforms made in Minnesota to provide adequate funding to long-term care in Greater Minnesota.
“This health care plan currently moving through Congress will end Medicaid as we know it, and may mean less care for seniors and people with disabilities,” Flaherty said. “The reduction in federal Medicaid money, by changing to a per capita Medicaid block grant system, could have serious impact on the newly created state nursing home reimbursement system. We strongly urge Minnesota Representatives to vote no on this bill and take the time to strengthen our health care system, not dismantle it and cause chaos for Minnesota families.”
After years of lobbying by both management and workers, the Minnesota Legislature recently overhauled the nursing home reimbursement system, ending the practice of providing more reimbursement benefits to Twin Cities metro area nursing homes. This leveled the playing field for Greater Minnesota nursing homes like Luther Haven.
“Because of these changes, the parties were able to negotiate wage increases in 2015 of between $3 and $4 an hour for many nursing home employees and an additional 50 cent-an-hour increase in 2016,” said Boots. “This rise in workers’ income benefits Montevideo and the surrounding communities.”
Melody Nordby, a Trained Medication Aide at Luther Haven, said she is urging her Congressman, Democrat Collin Peterson, to vote against the Republican bill.
“I know the importance of good care for our residents, as someone who has been working here for 35 years,” Nordby said. “In recent years we’ve seen investment in nursing home funding and that investment has meant that the Minnesotans who need care are getting the care they deserve. Now Republicans in D.C. are talking about cutting health care and ending Medicaid as we know it, which may cause an unimaginable amount of harm on our residents. As a health care provider and a Minnesotan who believes every person should be able to receive decent care, I urge Representative Collin Peterson to vote no on this awful bill.”
In addition to the millions of people who would be affected by the changes to Medicaid, the legislation repeals several provisions of the Affordable Care Act that Americans have come to depend on, including the requirement that insurance cover “essential benefits,” including outpatient care, emergency services, hospitalization, pregnancy, maternity and newborn care and mental health care.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the Republican bill will result in 24 million fewer people having health insurance by 2026, compared to the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”