Wicker for Senate

JOPLIN, Mo., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Citing the substantial benefit in protecting the nation's critical frontline-caregiver infrastructure, the Coalition to Protect Senior Care (CPSC) today thanked Senator Roger Wicker for helping to lead a successful, bipartisan effort in Congress to stop the Bush Administration from moving forward with a new regulation that would have cut Medicare-funded nursing home care by $4 billion over the next five years, and $770 million for FY 2009. The Administration announced last week that the regulation would not go into effect, and the success of Sen. Wicker in helping to prevent the Medicare regulation from going into effect ensures Mississippi seniors will be protected from cuts of $7.4 million next year.

"With all of the seemingly endless public criticism of Washington, it is essential to point out that Senator Wicker just played a successful, pivotal role in helping roll back potentially disastrous $7.4 million Medicare cuts for Mississippi's seniors," stated Lori Porter, a co-founder and CEO of the National Association of Health Care Assistants, and a founding member of the CPSC, based in Joplin, MO. "From the perspective of front line caregivers who help make the key difference in patient outcomes, Sen. Wicker deserves enormous thanks for stopping the Medicare changes that were about to go into effect."

Specifically, Sen. Wicker wrote a letter to White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten warning the Bush Administration's proposed Medicare regulation would jeopardize the significant quality improvements made by the skilled nursing facility (SNF) community in recent years as well as the ability of nursing homes to continue caring for high acuity patients. Because nursing homes rely on Medicare to make up for chronic underfunding by the Medicaid program -- an average of $13 per day for every Medicaid beneficiary in nursing homes nationwide -- it is critically important that Medicare reimbursement remain fair and consistent.