Nursing home residents might find themselves in the hunt for a new place if Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney succeeds in his plans to revamp the nation’s Medicaid program, said a Democratic party leader at a campaign event last Friday, reports the Seacoastonline.com.
During the event, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told supporters at the Obama for America headquarters that “many nursing home residents would no longer be able to remain in their nursing homes” under Romney’s vision for Medicaid because the former Massachusetts governor “and his Tea Party extremist allies” want to “rip that safety net out from under our seniors in America.”
Romney’s proposed block grant format for the Medicaid program would give states funding for seniors, and let states individually decide how to allot the funding, said Wasserman Schultz, noting that 60% of seniors in nursing homes rely on Medicaid to pay for their stays.
Seacoastonline.com reports:
Schultz said Romney’s plan to turn Medicaid into “a voucher program” would force the state’s senior citizens to pay $6,300 more each for medical care. In contrast, she said, the federal Affordable Care Act has given seniors $600 more each for prescription drugs and allowed them access to annual wellness checkups.
“Mitt Romney shows absolutely no interest in preserving Medicare,” she said.
AdvertisementIn a statement released in advance of Schultz’s visit, Wayne MacDonald, chairman of the NH Republican State Committee said, “Debbie talks a good game, but her rhetoric ignores reality.”
“To help pay for ObamaCare, the Democrats cut Medicare benefits by $500 billion, a plan supported by Annie Kuster and Carole Shea-Porter,” MacDonald said. “At a time when seniors face increasing costs, it’s outrageous that Democrats not only cut this important program, but they also have no plan to prevent it from going bankrupt. If Shea-Porter and Kuster really support seniors and Medicare, they’ll use this visit by their party leadership to explain to voters why they supported cutting $500 billion from Medicare.”
Read the full piece here.
Written by Alyssa Gerace
