Nursing homes say it’s time for states to undo Medicaid cuts

States should boost their Medicaid spending as the economy improves and their budgets begin to grow back, the nursing home industry said Friday.

Many states made significant Medicaid cuts in 2009 and 2010, to help keep their spending in line with falling tax revenues. But after those two years of decline, every state saw its tax revenues increase last year, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.

Nursing homes said states should restore Medicaid funding as their budgets continue to improve.

“As revenues return, states should consider rolling back many of these Medicaid cuts and restoring the level of care our nation’s seniors and individuals with disabilities deserve,” said Mark Parkinson, president of the American Health Care Association and a former governor of Kansas.

He said states under-funded nursing homes by more than $6 billion last year.

Medicaid has been a particularly difficult problem for state policymakers during the economic downturn. More people need the program when unemployment is high, but high unemployment also means that states have less tax money to pay for their Medicaid programs.

The federal government provided extra funding as part of the 2009 stimulus, but that bonus expired last year.

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