Medicare cuts would hit rural nursing homes hardest, lobbying group tells Congress

Medicare cuts being considered by Congress would have a disproportionate effect on rural nursing homes and jobs in their rural communities, according to an analysis of Congressional Budget Office data by the American Health Care Association.

The study concluded that rural seniors would pay 25 percent of the $2.7 billion in cuts to nursing home benefits over the next five years, and the costs would be especially high in states with high rural populations. Currently, nursing homes get an average of $13.15 less from Medicare than the reimbursement provided by Medicaid, the federally supported state program for the poor and disabled, AHCA said.

"America's rural communities depend upon the strength and vitality of local long term care facilities for jobs and economic development, and the negative ramifications resulting from federal Medicare cuts would quickly ripple through the local economic base from the standpoint of lost jobs, less hiring and marginally higher unemployment," said Allen Rosenbloom, the president and CEO of the lobbying group Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. (Read more)