Missouri’s seniors and individuals with disabilities rely on Medicaid to access the critical long term care services they need. That’s why it was encouraging to hear U.S. Senator Josh Hawley recently commit to protecting Medicaid, acknowledging that “twenty-one percent of the residents of my state receive Medicaid” and pledging to ensure “folks who are working and getting those benefits … are able to do so.”
Nursing homes across the Show-Me State applaud Senator Hawley’s leadership and encourage all of Missouri’s lawmakers on Capitol Hill to follow his lead. Our state’s most vulnerable seniors depend on it.
Funding for Missouri’s long term care residents has been lacking for years. Cutting funding now would roll back improvements that have been made in recent years. This will make it more difficult for providers to care for Missouri’s seniors, which make up a growing share of our state’s population.
By underfunding nursing homes, it makes it more difficult to invest in staff, services, and facility improvements. While our caregivers go above and beyond to provide the highest quality care for our residents, Congress should not make their jobs harder by cutting funding.
These cuts would have real world consequences here in Missouri. Ultimately, it would force nursing homes to downsize or shut down entirely. Thousands of elderly Missourians and their families would be left scrambling to find care.
The impacts would be felt most acutely in the many rural communities that span our state. Nursing homes in these areas already face significant challenges, such as identifying and recruiting caregivers. This oftentimes forces many providers to rely on expensive staffing agencies who do not understand the unique health care needs of the residents. Cuts to Medicaid could make the situation even more unsustainable.
When nursing homes close, it most directly affects the residents, many of whom struggle to grapple with any changes in routine or having to familiarize themselves with new faces. But closures also devastate families, burden local hospitals and eliminate jobs in communities that often already have too few. In many rural communities the next nursing home is miles away, making it harder for loved ones to visit and those looking for new caregiver jobs left traveling farther for work.
Nursing homes are a vital part of an interconnected health care system as they are designed to also provide post-acute care services after a hospital stay. Nursing home closures will force patients to stay longer in the hospital, even when they’re ready to be discharged to begin rehabilitation. This bottleneck strains already overburdened hospitals by taking away beds for emergency care and other medical services.
The bottom line is that Missouri seniors depend on Medicaid. Any cuts to this program would be devastating for our state’s most vulnerable residents and our local health care infrastructure. We owe it to our elderly loved ones to ensure these programs are funded in a way that ensures they have access to high quality care.
Senator Hawley stood up for seniors. I hope the rest of Missouri’s elected officials will do the same. Safeguarding Medicaid funding will show our most vulnerable that our lawmakers are putting them first.
Executive director of the Missouri Health Care Association
