Poll: Voters don't want nursing homes cut in cliff deal

The lead advocacy group for nursing homes released a new poll showing low support for cuts to Medicare and long-term care facilities as part of a deal on the "fiscal cliff."

According to the American Health Care Association (AHCA) survey, more than eight in 10 registered voters agreed that "continuous cuts to … nursing homes are unacceptable" and that Congress should "look to other places to balance the budget."

Like many healthcare groups, the AHCA has been lobbying Congress to kill the sequester and preserve its members' funding in any final deal to reduce to deficit.

“When it comes to skilled nursing centers and the care millions of Americans receive every year, the people have spoken — fiscal cliff negotiations should not include further cuts to seniors," said AHCA President Mark Parkinson in a statement.

"We hope lawmakers heed these views that are important to their constituents. In fact, more, not less, funding should be the goal of policymakers as boomers continue to age."

The Obama administration estimates that the sequester — automatic budget cuts set to hit Jan. 1 — would slash $11 billion from Medicare as a result of an across-the-board 2 percent provider cut.

In AHCA's poll, a plurality (46%) of voters said the government should provide more money to nursing homes as the baby boom generation ages.

Forty-one percent said the government should merely avoid proposed Medicare cuts to nursing homes, while 14 percent said the cuts should take effect.

The poll was conducted by New York-based Opinion Access between Nov. 16-19 and has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

The sequester is a product of the Budget Control Act of July 2011 and was designed to force a deal on long-term deficit reduction.

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