When the pandemic emergency declarations end on May 11, so too will covid-era government subsidies. And when that happens, perhaps no industry will be more affected than the nursing home industry.
That’s why the American Health Care Association (AHCA) is sounding the alarm. The group, which which represents thousands of nursing homes, warned this week that more than half of all nursing homes in the US are losing money because of rising healthcare costs, low Medicaid reimbursements, and fewer people living in them.
Rachel Werner, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, told Quartz that the pandemic only made worse a crisis that had been growing for half a century, mostly because Medicaid underpays for care in nursing homes.
According to ACHA, more than 60% of nursing home patients are on Medicaid, and it only pays 86% of their costs.