30 Ways in 30 Days: Health Care for Older Pennsylvanians

Editor's Note: The following news release was based on Governor Ed Rendell's proposed 2009-10 state budget released in February. A revised funding request, submitted by Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg on June 11, requests an additional $257 million for the departments of Aging and Public Welfare (DPW). On June 17, the Governor said that Aging will cut an additional $100,000 in funding, and DPW will cut $106 million.

Budget Cuts Would Put Health Care for Older Pennsylvanians at Risk

The Departments of Aging and Pubic Welfare would receive $362 million less in state and federal funding under SB 850, meaning less money available to pay for nursing home care and other long-term care costs.  Most affected would be thousands of senior citizens who already have exhausted their life savings on long-term care.

HARRISBURG (June 7, 2009) - Thousands of senior citizens and disabled Pennsylvanians could lose access to nursing home and home-based health care services under a budget plan passed by the state Senate.

Senate Bill 850 would slice $362 million in state and federal dollars from the budgets of the Departments of Aging and Public Welfare, causing those departments to consider cutting back on the number of seniors and persons with disabilities who currently receive assistance.

Pennsylvania's elderly represent the fastest growing segment of the state's population, meaning that demand for services is growing, not decreasing.  With the cost of a private room in a Pennsylvania nursing home now averaging more than $77,000 a year, more and more Pennsylvanians are in need of assistance.

Home health care delivery could be in particular peril under the Senate's plan, as home health care providers have not seen an increase in reimbursement rates for five years.  Before that increase, the reimbursement rate had been stagnant for 13 years.

Currently, home health professionals receive $77 dollars in Medicaid reimbursements for each home visit, while the Department of Health has estimated that each home health care visit costs about $104, a figure that rises with each increase in the price of gasoline.

You can learn more about the impact of budget cuts on the state nursing home industry at the Pennsylvania Health Care Association's web site or by calling Communications Director Alison Everett at 717-221-7935. To learn more about home health care in Pennsylvania, go to the Pennsylvania Home Care Association's web site or call 800-382-1211.

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