Action Center Update: Protect Long-Term Care Services

As the special session grinds along, one of the issues lawmakers are grappling with is how to keep a strong long-term care system in place while also making necessary cuts to close a nearly $6 billion deficit. Cuts in any form will have an impact on Jewish community agencies, especially the Kline Galland Home. However, there are ways to make smarter and more equitable reductions while keeping long-term care facilities, like the Kline Galland, in mind.

HB 1249 is the bill that proposes making cuts to Washington's long-term care system. As written, the legislation would impose deep reductions in Medicaid for nursing homes, threaten the financial viability of rural facilities, and make it harder for nursing facilities which cater to the unique needs of Washington's Jewish, Latino, African American, and Asian communities to continue.

Fortunately, there is an alternative proposal. Aging Services of Washington, an advocacy partner of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, has proposed an alternative solution which links nursing home cuts to a facility's occupancy.

If a facility, like the Kline Galland, has appropriately reinvested in its physical plant, remained current with facility improvements, is correctly staffed and provides quality nursing home care, it is more likely to attract and meet the needs of the consumer, thereby increasing its occupancy rates. This type of nursing home should be subjected to lower rate cuts than a nursing home that has chosen not to remain viable in today's environment of resident choice.

Please take a moment to email your legislators urging them to oppose HB 1249 in its current form and support alternative cuts which prioritize the needs of high-occupancy facilities like the Kline Galland Home.