The report concludes that the Congressional proposals would add significant new financial burdens on husbands, wives and adult children of nursing home patients that could lead families into poverty. Under current law, families of nursing home residents are protected from having to spend their life savings to place a loved one in a nursing home. The federal bill, however, would abolish key protections against family impoverishment.
Few families can afford to pay bills that high for very long.
We're going to see more families on the brink of financial ruin when a loved one requires nursing home care if this bill is approved. This is a 'transformation' from economic security to financial insecurity for most Americans. Medicaid provides basic health insurance for 36 million poor women, children, elderly and disabled people, in addition to covering long-term nursing home care. Many of the nation's 1.6 million nursing home patients rely on Medicaid to pay for nursing home expenses after they have exhausted most of their own resources. Most private insurance policies do not cover this type of care and Medicare restricts nursing care payments to a very limited period after a hospital stay, according to the report.