Senator Witkos Joins Calls for Special Session to Address Medicaid Cuts
September 5, 2019“People need to come before partisanship and politics.”
Today the entire Connecticut Senate Republican Caucus called on lawmakers to override a portion of the Democrat-approved state budget that cut Medicaid funding for Connecticut nursing homes. In a letter to Democrat legislative leaders, Republican state senators asked Democrat leaders to support a special legislative session to eliminate the cuts that have put nine nursing homes at risk of closing. The Republican senators said they want to work with Democrats to identify cuts and savings elsewhere in the budget to restore the $5.3 million in Medicaid funds, should Democrat legislative leaders commit to fixing this issue in a special session.
“We need more than words. We can and we must restore this funding. We would like to work together to do so. People need to come before partisanship and politics,” the Connecticut Senate Republicans wrote.
“This policy disregards the serious and traumatic consequences closures would have on vulnerable nursing home residents including persons with dementia. Such closures could potentially push people into a community that does not have the proper supports. To make matters worse, the state budget passed by Democrats also reduces funding for the Connecticut Home Care Program by $7 million annually, making it that much harder for seniors to access the entry point to successful aging in place. Therefore, the overall impact of your budget both hurts those receiving care in nursing homes, and makes it harder for people displaced by potential nursing home closures to successfully age in place.”
The Senate Republicans emphasized that while some Democrat lawmakers have recently spoken out against the Medicaid cuts, they also developed and approved the cuts, making their calls to delay implementation hypocritical.
“Multiple Democrat lawmakers have now expressed regret over their decision to cut this funding and have called for a delay or revising of the policy. We have seen letters from rank and file Democrat lawmakers, as well as from lawmakers who had a direct hand in crafting policy to cut Medicaid funding, negatively impacting seniors. Those calls ring hollow because the same majority party that crafted this policy could secure a special legislative session so that action can be taken and the budget can be fixed,” they wrote.
Full letter below.
September 5, 2019
Dear Senator Looney and Speaker Aresimowicz:
We are writing to request that the legislature hold a special session so that we can fix the problems your budget has created for multiple nursing homes across our state, putting them at risk of closure and negatively impacting the seniors in their care.
Multiple Democrat lawmakers have now expressed regret over their decision to cut this funding and have called for a delay or revising of the policy. We have seen letters from rank and file Democrat lawmakers, as well as from lawmakers who had a direct hand in crafting policy to cut Medicaid funding, negatively impacting seniors. Those calls ring hollow because the same majority party that crafted this policy could secure a special legislative session so that action can be taken and the budget can be fixed.
As you are aware, the Fiscal Year 2020/2021 budget crafted by Democrat lawmakers and Governor Lamont reduced Medicaid payments to certain nursing homes by $5.3 million over the next two years, putting nine nursing homes at risk of closure. To achieve these savings, the budget contains a policy change that results in a reduction of Medicaid funding to multiple nursing homes. This policy disregards the serious and traumatic consequences closures would have on vulnerable nursing home residents including persons with dementia. Such closures could potentially push people into a community that does not have the proper supports. To make matters worse, the state budget passed by Democrats also reduces funding for the Connecticut Home Care Program by $7 million annually, making it that much harder for seniors to access the entry point to successful aging in place. Therefore, the overall impact of your budget both hurts those receiving care in nursing homes, and makes it harder for people displaced by potential nursing home closures to successfully age in place.
We absolutely need to hold nursing homes accountable to ensure safety and quality care. But this policy puts money before people. It is discouraging nursing home facilities from caring for the most vulnerable, all just to free up money to spend elsewhere in the budget. There are already procedures in place to hold nursing homes accountable when they make errors. This policy does not enhance that system. It just makes it harder for facilities to improve and offer care to patients with more complex issues. The federal quality measure scores used to determine who is penalized are not Connecticut centric measures. It is odd that Connecticut Democrats would choose to utilize a Washington based method related to a women’s health care issue, as nearly 70% of nursing home residents are women. The federal quality measures do not properly account for patients’ acuity levels or comorbidities. A facility that cares for individuals with more critical care needs could receive a misleading negative score, reducing health care access because of a patient’s preexisting conditions. We have already heard that the administration does not intend to consider these federal quality measure scores when implementing this policy, so there should be no issue in adjusting the budget to eliminate the use of these ratings. Occupancy levels also should be looked at on a case by case basis and perhaps better defined in legislation as many large facilities keep beds open to hold on to their capacity and maintain room for different care needs as the Connecticut senior population is expected to grow significantly in the coming years.
Republicans have opposed this Medicaid reduction and voted against this cut when it came before the Human Services Committee and when it came before the full legislature in the state budget bill. We urge you to stand up and take action to restore these funds. In a $40 billion budget, finding $5.3 million over the next two years to restore this Medicaid funding is not an unachievable task. Should you agree to pursue a special session for this purpose, Republicans would like to work together to identify savings or cuts elsewhere in the budget that can be used to restore this funding and to prioritize support for vulnerable seniors.
We urge you to acknowledge the pain your budget will cause and take real action to right this wrong. We need more than words. We can and we must restore this funding. We would like to work together to do so. People need to come before partisanship and politics.
We look forward to further discussions once you have committed to a special session.
Sincerely,
Len Fasano
Kevin Witkos
Gennaro Bizzarro
Eric Berthel
Dan Champagne
Paul Formica
Tony Hwang
Kevin Kelly
John A. Kissel
George Logan
Henri Martin
Craig Miner
Rob Sampson
Heather Somers