That was the title of a letter to the editor printed in Monday’s Virginian-Pilot in response to 2nd Congressional District Representative Scott Rigell’s support of the Ryan budget plan.
The fact is, around 65 percent of Medicaid spending goes to the care of the disabled and elderly — mostly for long-term care in nursing homes.
The writer isn’t making anything up. That chart to the right, taken from this very informative primer on Medicaid, shows exactly that.
While I didn’t have these facts at my fingertips when I last spoke to Rep. Rigell, I had a different fact: my mother, who is, at 90, now one of the Medicaid recipients for nursing home care. I told Rigell – and Sen. Mark Warner – that not everyone is wealthy enough – as they are – to pay for such care. My sisters and I fall into that category.
It is not as if the care provided is lavish. I, along with one of my sisters, visited a facility that the current nursing home where my mother is wants to move her to. (They have gotten their full pay from Medicare and are looking to place her elsewhere.) The facility is 180 beds on three wings. Most of the rooms are semi-private. I asked about the staffing and was told that each wing had three nurses and five CNAs on it. So eight people to care for 60 patients.
Over the years, I’ve sat with clients of mine and helped them calculate how long it will be before their loved one went through all of their life savings paying for nursing home care prior to having to use Medicaid. I’ve encouraged my younger clients to obtain long term care insurance in order to help defray the costs. I’ve seen clients spend tens of thousands of dollars each year to provide in-home health care to their loved ones. (To my knowledge, there is no provision in either Medicare or Medicaid to pay for that.)
Dealing with the nursing home providers when your loved one is a Medicaid recipient is a nightmare. They assume that you don’t know your rights and that they can bully you into doing what they want. Being elderly and poor in our society is a very uncomfortable place to be.
Rigell’s support of the Ryan plan is disappointing. Republican Sen. Scott Brown seems to get it: he announced this morning that he is voting against it.
The full letter to the editor is below. As of this writing, it is not available online. UPDATE: Online here.
RIGELL DOESN’T GET MEDICAID
“RIGELL STANDS BY GOP plan that would alter Medicare, Medicaid” (Hampton Roads, May 18) describes Medicaid as a program that provides health care to poor people. If you’re talking about the number of enrollees, well, yes, the poor do make up the largest group. However, since the topic is the budget, it is more appropriate to talk about how the money is spent. The fact is, around 65 percent of Medicaid spending goes to the care of the disabled and elderly — mostly for long-term care in nursing homes.
A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that people who reach the age of 65 will have a 40 percent chance of entering a nursing home. The overwhelming majority of the elderly who live in nursing homes rely on Medicaid, not Medicare, for their nursing home coverage. With very limited medical exceptions, Medicare does not cover the cost of long-term care — whether in a nursing home or with the help of home care providers.
The budget plan that Rep. Scott Rigell stands by will cut Medicare spending by 33 percent over the next 10 years. And yet it makes no mention of who will have to make up the difference. Well, I’ll give you a clue unless this letter is being read to you by your butler, it will be you. Good luck figuring out how to make up the difference. And this is a plan that Rigell is proud of, even if it’s not, as he said, “perfect.”
Spoken like a true, out-of-touch millionaire.
John McGrann
Virginia Beach
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Amen, and Amen again. Thank you so much for illuminating this.
Absurdity. I thought that Republicans would never bring Ryan’s roadmap to floor. But astonishingly they did. This gives me no hope that they won’t force a default on the public debt.
The Medicare and Medicaid cuts are just the most visible piece of this garbage. By magic, discretionary spending is cut in half in 10 years. No specific programs or agencies are mentioned. So, I guess we are getting rid of nutritional assistance and veterans benefits too. All of this to dramatically cut corporate and individual tax rates for high earners on both counts. And they have the gall to claim that Democrats are playing the class warfare card?
Well, I’m a bit confused by the letter.
Parsing the first paragraph, Medicaid is mostly for the poor and disabled, BUT “65 percent of Medicaid spending goes to the care of the disabled and elderly — mostly for long-term care in nursing homes.”
But don’t those disabled and elderly have to be POOR to get Medicaid to pay for long-term care in nursing homes?
Then his final paragraph goes on about MediCARE reductions. ???????
Anyway, he asks who will make up the difference. And his answer is correct — WE will. But WE are paying for Medicare anyway. The children and grandchildren of Medicare recipients are footing the bill. So let’s get rid of Medicare, and the children and grandchildren can simply pay directly, rather than going through the wasteful bureaucracy of the national and state governments.
Have you ever heard: “But for the grace of God go I”?
Expound, please.