State, National Nursing Home Caregivers: Medicare Funding Cut to Long Term Care Will Jeopardize Vital Staffing Positions and Compromise Care for New Mexico...( - Healthcare Reform Prop...),Health

- Healthcare Reform Proposals in Congress Set to Cut Medicare Funding for New Mexico's Seniors in Nursing Homes by $130.2 Million over Ten Years -

Caregivers, Residents, Family Members, Sign Petition Urging New Mexico Congressional Delegation to Stop and Revise Further Cuts to Seniors' Nursing Home Care

RIO RANCHO, N.M., Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Area nursing home caregivers, residents and family members gathered with representatives of a national coalition of nursing home clinicians today at Rio Rancho Care and Rehabilitation Center to sign a petition to members of the New Mexico Congressional delegation asking for their support in ensuring that Medicare funding for nursing home care remains sufficient for delivering quality care for seniors and protecting local caregiver jobs.

Under current U.S. House of Representatives healthcare reform legislation -- which is due for a floor vote upon Congress' return from August recess -- Medicare funding for seniors in nursing homes would be cut by more than $32 billion over ten years, equating to a loss of $130.2 million in funding for New Mexico's seniors, according to a recent analysis conducted by the American Health Care Association (AHCA). These funding reductions come at a time when seniors' nursing home care funding has been deeply cut by Medicare in recent months as well as historically under-funded by Medicaid, thereby threatening overall quality of care and important caregiver positions, according to representatives of the Coalition to Protect Senior Care (CPSC), which co-hosted the event.

"We fully support what Congress is striving to achieve with healthcare reform. However, we believe that proposals in place to cut Medicare funding for seniors in nursing homes would place an unfair burden on our nation's most vulnerable seniors depending upon this important care," said Lisa Cantrell,
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