Targeting 2.7 Billion Dollars Medicare Cuts, Ad Effort Urges Lawmakers To Stand Up For Quality Nursing Home Care, USA

n response to the 2.7 billion dollars cuts to Medicare that were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act), the long term care provider community today initiated an aggressive TV and print campaign in Congressional districts across the country. The campaign warns that proposed cuts will jeopardize ongoing quality improvements in America's nursing homes, threaten thousands of local health care jobs, and irrationally return Medicare funding levels to those seen almost a decade ago.

"The long term care profession strongly supports expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However, this support should not be funded by raiding the Medicare funding that vulnerable seniors depend upon for quality nursing home care in facilities across the nation," warned Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care ("the Alliance"). The Alliance is funding the ad campaign in conjunction with the American Health Care Association (AHCA). "Nursing homes have achieved significant quality improvements in recent years. Through this ad campaign, we are ensuring that lawmakers understand the House-passed SCHIP expansion plan would undermine and even reverse those quality improvements. This law would harm not only the 1.7 million Americans who rely on quality nursing home care, but also the hundreds of thousands of dedicated caregivers around the country who provide care and services."