Facing mounting pressure from nursing home workers, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) is proposing a series of rate hikes that would start this summer.
On Monday, 600 nursing home workers threatened to strike as early as June 3, bringing to 3,100 the total number of employees at 25 nursing homes who said they would be willing to take job action. The crux of their argument: Facilities that serve Medicaid patients aren’t receiving enough public support to provide for residents or pay employees fairly.
The Lamont administration’s announcement Monday afternoon, as reported by the Connecticut Mirror, calls for a 2% Medicaid rate increase in July, a 1% increase in October 2020 and another 1% increase in January 2021.
Office of Policy and Management Secretary Melissa McCaw, Lamont’s budget director, notified the state’s two major nursing home associations about the proposal in a letter. The Connecticut General Assembly is currently negotiating a two-year budget plan, and funding increases would have to be included in that work.
“Nursing home residents, employees and operators can rest a little easier tonight knowing that Governor Lamont and Secretary McCaw have made increased Medicaid funding for Connecticut nursing homes a priority at this critical time,” Matthew Barrett, president and CEO of the Connecticut Association of Health Care Facilities, told the Mirror.
According to the governor’s office, nursing home payment rate increases would cost $11 million next fiscal year, $18.5 million in 2020-21 and $24 million in 2021-22.
New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 SEIU, told the Mirror about 4,000 of its members at 43 nursing homes had been working two years with expired contracts. Others reported they had received no raises since 2016.
Pedro Zayas, a spokesman for 1199, told the newspaper his union won’t call off the strike deadline until contracts are finalized, a step that requires individual nursing homes to act quickly.
