New National Medicaid Study Underscores Importance of Including State Relief in Sti...( Medicaid Underfunds Actual Cost o...),Health

Medicaid Underfunds Actual Cost of Providing Quality Long Term Care by $4.2 Billion in 2008

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new Eljay, LLC analysis of Medicaid financing, which was released by the American Health Care Association (AHCA) today, projects that Medicaid underfunds the actual cost of providing quality long term care in 2008 by $4.2 billion -- with New York, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Texas, California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Florida seniors most affected by these significant funding disparities.

"Given the substantial gap between the cost to provide quality care and what Medicaid actually pays and the steeply rising pressure on state budgets, long term care providers and the seniors they care for have good reason to be fearful that imminent state budget cuts could threaten access to care," warned AHCA President & CEO Bruce Yarwood. "A post-election economic stimulus package must include state Medicaid relief to help prevent problems with accessing this essential care in 2009."

Yarwood said that the long term care profession is hopeful that sentiment among policymakers is shifting to favor adding robust Medicaid relief, noting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's recent comments before the House Budget Committee suggested that injecting federal dollars to boost state services would help the nation's faltering economy.

Yarwood explained that data from the new Medicaid study shows how dysfunctional and chronic Medicaid funding shortfalls place seniors' growing care needs and state programs in a precarious position, especially as states now wrestle with a collective $50 billion shortfall for the July 2008 - July 2009 state fiscal year, according to the National Governors Association (NGA).

According to the Eljay, LLC analysis, the states with the greatest underfunding of nursing facility care in 2008 are:

Rank State Total (Millions)

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