The New York Times is reporting that nursing home and home health care operators are starting a lobbying effort to seek some kind of exemption or special treatment from providing health care to employees. According to the article, among workers who provide hands-on care to nursing home residents, one in four has no health insurance. Among those who provide care to people living at home, one in three is uninsured.
Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association, the largest trade group for nursing homes told the Times that reimbursement rates for Medicaid and Medicare do not pay them enough to offer their employees medical coverage. “We do not have much ability to increase prices because we are so dependent on Medicaid and Medicare” for revenue, he said.
Mr. Parkinson acknowledged that when nursing homes do offer health insurance to employees, the benefits are often limited. The coverage “is probably not up to what will be required” by the federal law, he said.
The new health care law is supposed to fix the problem by guaranteeing access to affordable coverage for all. But many nursing homes and home care agencies, alarmed at the cost of providing health insurance to hundreds of thousands of health care workers, have started a lobbying effort seeking some kind of exemption or special treatment.
Read the full article at the link below.
Nursing Homes Seek Exemptions From Health Law
