THE FEDERAL BUDGET COULD UNDO PROGRESS HERE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Legislators Stood by Nursing Home Care in the Current State Budget
Nursing home caregivers and all the staff who support quality care -- activities professionals, dietary, housekeeping, and maintenance workers -- are everyday heroes. Despite a revenue-starved state budget process, Gov. Kelly Ayotte and legislators, with particular thanks to members of both parties on the Senate Finance Committee, maintained progress for nursing home care, and added funding to better process Medicaid long-term care applications.
This support was greatly appreciated and truly needed. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, federal data shows hourly wages for long-term care facilities up over 34%, which is staggering. The cost of food has risen by a similar amount as have costs for medical supplies and equipment, which now face tariff-driven increases too.
Health Care Finances Are Precarious, and Federal Cuts Would Add to Financial Distress
Most nursing home residents have their care paid for by Medicaid, and delays in the completion of Medicaid applications can result in a single nursing home carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid bills. The federal budget signed by President Trump would add to those unpaid bills by changing the law, putting facilities at risk of providing a month of care for which they will never be compensated. The budget bill will also, over time, take enormous Medicaid resources away from the states, jeopardizing health care and state budgets alike.
Because the budget would add $4.1 trillion to the federal budget deficit, it will also trigger 4% Medicare cuts under a process called "sequestration" due to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. Under that law, the first $45 billion in Medicare cuts would occur not more than 14 days after the end of the current session of Congress. Providers are already enduring 2% sequestration Medicare cuts, and cannot bear additional cuts. Members of Congress should act to exempt health care providers from these new cuts that could push some providers into bankruptcy.