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Coalition to
protect Senior Care gearing up to fight Bush
Administration Medicare Cuts…Intent
to slash most vulnerable Seniors' Nursing
Home Care to face severe resistance
Commenting on a New
York Times article today reporting the Bush
Administration plans to cut U.S. seniors'
Medicare-financed nursing home care in his
FY 2009 budget to be unveiled Monday, the
Coalition to Protect Senior Care said it
will begin gearing up to fight the cut, as
it did last summer and fall when the
Coalition was active at the state and
national levels in opposing congressional
efforts to cut Medicare Part A nursing home
benefits.
"As we successfully
opposed the congressional effort to cut our
most vulnerable seniors' Medicare-financed
nursing home benefits, we will fight any
attempt by the Bush Administration to slash
the vital Medicare resources necessary to
ensuring our oldest, sickest residents
continue to receive the quality care they
absolutely require," stated Lisa Cantrell, a
co-founder of the National Association of
Health Care Assistants, and a national
spokesperson for the Coalition to Protect
Senior Care.
"Failure to provide the
Medicare funding update the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) itself
said last year was important to the
continued provision of quality care is
illogical, counterproductive, and bad health
care policy."
Cantrell said the
Coalition, in fighting the Medicare cuts,
will be considering a variety of ways to
convey its message in a variety of states,
including the possible use of paid media and
grass roots activities, as it successfully
utilized in 2007.
"We will continue to
make the positive point that America's front
line caregivers and clinicians have a shared
responsibility with our lawmakers and the
federal government to ensure every U.S.
senior receives the quality long term care
they need and deserve."
The Coalition to
Protect Senior Care consists of the American
Association for Long Term Care Nursing (AALTCN);
the American College of Health Care
Administrators (ACHCA); the American
Association of Nurse Assessment Coordinators
(AANAC); the National Rural Health
Association (NRHA); the American Association
of Nurse Executives (AANEX); the American
Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA);
the American Society of Health Care
Administration Executives (ASHCAE); ASHCAE
state affiliate members representing
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa,
Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas and
Utah; the American Health Care Association (AHCA);
the American Health Quality Association (AHQA);
the National Association for the Support of
Long Term Care (NASL); the National
Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA);
the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care;
the Coalition of Women in Long Term Care
(COWL); and the Senior Clinician Group.
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