A few lawmakers broke out the hitting sticks during a union-backed event Thursday.
And the target was pretty clear from the get go.
“We know who the opposition is,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). She specifically cited the American Health Care Association. But make no mistake, the moniker was meant for any owner or operator who doesn’t actively support the push for staffing mandates.
So in case the message isn’t clear, let me spell it out. Nursing homes are bad. Bad, bad, bad.
Look, there is no denying that the industry has major hiring and retention challenges on its hands. And the reason for both is not terribly difficult to figure out. It boils down to basic economics.
Staff costs are already the highest budget item at most facilities, despite the relatively low wages that are offered. Moreover, many facilities are barely scraping by.
We’ve seen nary a new facility breaking ground in the past half decade, while hundreds have closed. Is that the sign of a robust industry?
So let’s get real. As is, nursing homes cannot hire anywhere near enough help. All a mandate will do is give regulators another enforcement tool.
And while we’re passing the blame jar around, let’s not forget where the root of this problem lies.
When Congress was establishing the Medicare and Medicaid programs, nursing home care was going to be covered as an entitlement. But several key lawmakers balked at the expense. As a result, Medicaid became the primary payer – a reality that still exists.
In other words, Congress made nursing home services a poorly subsidized benefit for the subsidized poor. What could possibly go wrong?
Rep. Schakowsky, do you think maybe, just maybe, some of the inadequate staffing blame should perhaps be put on Congress? After all, it was Congress that soiled itself at the moment of truth more than five decades ago.
Oh, and while we’re pointing fingers, isn’t your state of Illinois grappling with a few problems of its own?
Problems like that $100 billion-plus hole in the state pension system? Problems like non-poor residents running for the border to escape some of the nation’s highest sales, property and income taxes?
Oh, and did you notice the thousands of hoodlums who descended on downtown Chicago last weekend to stomp on cars, terrorize tourists and squeeze in a little shoplifting? With the promise of a lot more of where that came from?
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, perhaps the problems you should be trying to fix are, well, a bit closer to home.
John O’Connor is editorial director for McKnight’s.
Opinions expressed in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News columns are not necessarily those of McKnight’s.
