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Walker
proposes nursing-home tax to generate
federal Medicaid funds
The
January
12, 2004
A nursing
home association favors the tax but not ''We support
this tax under the condition that all the money come back to the nursing
homes,'' said Dirk Anjewierden, executive director of the Utah Health Care
Association. The
association represents 75 percent of the long-term care facilities in For every
dollar the state spends on Medicaid, the federal government provides $3. The tax would
be an assessment based on the gross receipts of the facilities. It is
expected to generate more than $4 million for the state to put into
Medicaid, resulting in the federal government increasing its contribution
by more than $12 million. The industry
would get all but $750,000 of the additional money, under ''We felt
that the increased cost of pharmaceuticals was an important part of
this,'' said Lynne Ward, the governor's deputy chief of staff. ''We felt
it was important to help the patients as well as the nursing homes.'' Anjewierden
said 70 percent of patients in nursing homes are on Medicaid, and the
state spending has been woefully inadequate. ''The problem
is the state just doesn't have any money. This is something where we said
we had the ability to solve our own problems and not cost the state of Rep. Becky
Lockhart, R-Provo, a registered nurse who sits on the House Health and
Human Services Committee, said she has not yet decided if she supports ''I do have
some concerns that the revenue being generated is not staying directly
with them as the beneficiary,'' she said. ''Their big concern is staying
in business. The state has a vested interest in making sure we have a
stable supply of providers.'' A 2002 study
by the American Health Care Association listed In 2001, the Legislature repealed a tax assessed on nursing homes that had generated $4.2 million, but not all the money made it to nursing homes. Copyright © 2002
Global Action on Aging |
