….and maybe more importantly, warning to the families of residents in Virginia’s nursing homes!
I’m biased but most nursing homes provide substandard care to the elderly. Nursing homes put “profits over people” and the result is under-staffed facilities, over-worked aides, and residents suffering from bed sores, dehydration, malnutrition, and on…and on…and on….
But the warning I’m giving now to residents in Virginia results from proposed reductions in Medicaid funding. An article in today’s Roanoke Times entitled, “Budget cuts may affect thousands of health care jobs” advises of the impending disaster. You see, Medicaid pays the nursing home bills for approximately 63% of all nursing home residents in Virginia. Due to the poor financial condition of the Commonwealth of Virginia, reductions in Medicaid funding are a certainty.
The article discusses the possibility of dramatically raising the tax on cigarettes as a way to maintain appropriate funding. I suggest you write to your state legislators and urge them to vote in favor of raising taxes on cigarettes. In the alternative, you could just hope neither you, nor your family or friends ever need to move into a nursing home.