|
Dana (C 4-5, 30 years post, 51, KC suburban Johnson County
Kansas)
|
--- Begin Message ---Meanwhile the National Governors are also meeting in Des Moines Iowa and you can bet Medicaid will be on the table again... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Kafka" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 5:59 PM Subject: Re: NY Times article on MedicaidDear Medicaid Reform Advocates: Medicaid is being attacked from all directions. The article below about the abuses in the New York Medicaid program is a double edged sword. On one hand the section on how much nursing home owners/operators rip off New York helps make our case for community services. However the description of widespread fraud throughout the Medicaid system bolsters the arguement of the advocates who want to totally dismantle Medicaid and want to block grant or cap the program. The National Medicaid Commission has been named and must make their first recommendations by September 1st. There first task will be to outline how $10 billion dollars might be saved in the Medicaid program. As advocates we have to be sure not to allow "the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater" just because of some abuses. Though we despise nursing homes and other institutions we must remember that Medicaid is also the biggest funder of home and community services as well as acute health services. Though we don't like the medical model we must protect the necessary dollars in the community as we change how the Medicaid program is run. Here is the part of the article below you will like and can use to make the case for home and community services: > The Executives Among the biggest beneficiaries of the Medicaid program have been executives of the state's nursing homes and clinics, many of whom earn substantial salaries and profits from the program. According to records obtained from the Health Department under the Freedom of Information Law, 70 executives of nursing homes and clinics personally made more than $500,000 in 2002, the last year for which figures are available. Twenty-five executives made more than $1 million. For the nursing home executives, that money was earned in salaries and profits, most of which came directly from the daily fee that Medicaid pays for caring for each low-income patient, usually in the range of $200. Salaries are earned by employees of the homes, and profit is earned by owners, although owners are often executive directors or chief executives of the homes, allowing them to benefit in both ways. Consider three homes in the Bronx. The operator of the Laconia Nursing Home, which receives 90 percent of its revenues from Medicaid, earned $3 million in salary and profit. At the Grand Manor Nursing Home, also 90 percent financed by Medicaid, the operator and three family members earned a total of $2.4 million in salaries and profit. The owner and operator of the Morris Park home, 75 percent financed by Medicaid, took in $1.5 million in salary and profit. #################################### Please alert us what is going on with Medicaid in your state. Don't Mourn...ORGANIZE!!! The ADAPT Community www.adapt.org THE FULL 7/18/05 New York Times ARTICLE entitled "New York Medicaid Fraud May Reach into the Billions," can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/18/nyregion/18medicaid.html?ex=1122350400&en=47e5077532b0afab&ei=5070&emc=eta1 NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt MiCASA List http://www.adapt.org
--- End Message ---
