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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Nowhere is the phrase “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” more true than the Biden Administration’s new nursing home rules. Vice President Kamala Harris was in Wisconsin earlier this week to talk about them.
She argues that some nursing homes are so understaffed that there aren’t enough workers to help patients out of bed. There may not be anyone available if someone falls. These are gross exaggerations. Currently states set nursing home staffing levels. There are no known cases here of the elderly wallowing in their own filth. All these federal regulations do is raise the cost of your loved ones care.
Most nursing homes have two types of residents: people who are poor and are on Medicaid, and people who are wealthy enough to pay for their own care. Medicaid pays, on average, $250 a day for poor seniors. When Queen Kamala rolls into LaCrosse and announces new staffing requirements, the medicaid payments have to cover the extra workers. Who will pay the higher costs? The people who have enough money to pay their own way. At the nursing home my grandmother stayed at, the cost was $75,000 a month. Once they drain the money in a senior’s bank accounts, then the value of their home (even my grandmother’s furniture was inventoried), then – only then – do the qualify for government assistance.
For certain, the new staffing will be expensive. Getting people to work in a long-term healthcare environment is already expensive. Government rules, which favor unionization, raises those costs substantially.
When the federal government raises the costs of running a nursing home, they’re draining the money from elderly loved ones who’ve saved all their lives. If you expect an inheritance when dear grandma passes, I assure you there will be nothing left if they land in a nursing home. If you think they’ll sell their home to you before they die, that won’t work. All states have lookback periods, often for several years.
What the Biden Administration envisions is a huge wealth transfer from well-off families to the healthcare industry.
The nursing home that my grandmother spent the last two years of her life in was a sunny, cheerful place. I asked her once if she was happy there. And she said “what’s to like?” The money she hoped to leave to her heirs was being eaten up each day. She was glad that she died before all of her accounts went down to zero.
My father had an astute observation. His wish when he could no longer live alone was for his children to book him into the most expensive room at the Waldorf Astoria, and let him eat and drink to his heart’s content. When his time comes, let the housekeeping staff find his corpse. He looked around grandma’s nursing home and said “that is better than this… and less expensive too.”
Chris Conley
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