Recent
Medicaid cuts affecting nursing home recipients have restricted access
to dental, vision, and podiatry care. For instance, routine dental
services are generally no longer covered by Medicaid. Instead, Medicaid
recipients usually only receive emergency dental services.
Without Medicaid funding, nursing homes must attempt to provide these
vital services to their residents privately, rely on financial help from
residents' family members, or neglect their residents' medical needs. This raises a troubling issue: If resources at nursing homes are even further depleted, could this lead to even more cases of nursing home abuse and neglect?
A group in Chicago hopes that question doesn't have to be answered. An estimated 300 nursing home supporters
gathered at the Thompson Center to protest existing and potential future cuts in Medicaid funding
affecting a number of elderly nursing home residents. Pam Comstock, the executive director of the Health Care Council of Illinois who explained,
"Our seniors are elderly and sick and they can't get in their cars and
go to Springfield or come down to [the] Thompson Center to talk to
anybody, so that's why we're joining our voices to give them a voice."
Staff members of several Chicago area nursing homes attended the
protest.
In
addition, protesters asserted that the state has failed to properly
reimburse Illinois nursing homes for Medicaid services already provided
to nursing home residents. Demonstrators estimated that the state owes
Illinois nursing homes approximately $400 million for previously provided Medicaid services, while the state estimates that this amount is closer to $210 million. Regardless
of the specific amount owed, it is clear that Illinois nursing home are
not receiving the funding they are owed for services their residents
are entitled to under Medicaid coverage.
This
combination of recent Medicaid funding cuts, potential future Medicaid
funding cuts, and significant outstanding reimbursements renders it
unlikely that Medicaid recipients living in nursing homes are receiving
proper and adequate care. In addition, the inevitable financial strain
on nursing homes created by these circumstances likely affects the
quality of care provided to all nursing home residents, as nursing homes
attempt to budget around Medicaid's shortcomings. In the most extreme
of circumstances, underfunded nursing home care may result in
staffing deficits which lead to the neglect, or even abuse, of nursing
home residents.
If you have a question about this post, or any other issue related to
Illinois personal injury law, please contact Illinois Nursing Home Abuse
and Neglect Attorney Mike Keating. You can contact Mike by calling 312-208-7702 or emailing MKeating@ KeatingLegal.com,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All phone calls and emails are returned
promptly. All initial consultations are free and confidential.