A new report from the Economic Policy Institute links staffing shortages in long-term care facilities in Nebraska and across the country to low wages and poor working conditions.

The median wage for caregivers, at just over $15 an hour, is significantly lower than the national median of $20 an hour.

Todd Stubbendieck, state director for AARP Nebraska, said the lack of sufficient staff can have significant negative effects on the health of residents.

“Decreased physical capacity, more infection rates, more falls, then more hospitalizations,” Stubbendieck pointed out. “Addressing this staffing issue is fundamental to ensuring that we provide good quality care to residents of long-term care facilities.”

Long-term care workers are also less likely to be covered by employer-provided pension and health insurance benefits. Even before COVID, nursing home staff could not keep up with demand and the industry has lost 235,000 workers since the pandemic began. AARP analysts found that a fifth of all nursing homes have reported insufficient staffing each month since the summer of 2020.

Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association, said understaffing at nursing homes is also impacting Nebraska hospitals. When long-term care facilities are not adequately staffed, he said inpatients cannot be discharged and their bed is not available for the next patient who needs it.

“We’ve seen recently, just in the Omaha area, hospital emergency rooms start to back down because beds weren’t available,” Nordquist observed. “Because we didn’t have enough skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes across the state to take these patients.”

The report called for increased public funding to ensure higher wages and better working conditions to attract and retain experienced and committed workers. States and localities can also establish industry-specific worker standards commissions to recommend changes to minimum wages and working conditions.

Stubbendieck added that helping Nebraskanians access home care would also reduce demand.

“We know people want to stay home as long as possible, or at the lowest level of care,” Stubbendieck noted. “People are staying at home and receiving care, and not having to go to long-term care facilities, which tend to be more expensive. And so strengthening home and community care is one solution. ”

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Supporters of a bill currently in the US Senate have claimed it will address rising health care costs and could bring some relief to Americans.

Part of the Inflation Reduction Act would allow Medicare to directly negotiate prescription drug prices in 2023 and cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare patients at $2,000 per year. It comes a month after Governor Ned Lamont extended the state’s Connecticut Covered Program to adults without children.

Jim Manley, board member of Consumers for Quality Care, noted that the increase in out-of-pocket costs is a major concern.

“The problem comes down to copayment caps, increased deductibles, and prescription drug copayments,” Manley explained. “Caps on copays are largely absent from the current health care bill that the Senate will be considering this week. And so, that has resulted in higher and higher costs for more and more Americans.”

In the group’s new survey, 45% of Americans said their out-of-pocket spending is way too high and more than 70% believe healthcare costs are rising “far more than the other things they need”. The Urban Institute said one in 10 people in Connecticut, and 13% of all Americans, have outstanding medical debt.

Manley believes that while the issue is important, it will not be a dominant factor in November’s midterm elections. However, he thinks a change is needed. In the survey, 60% of people said they skipped or delayed medical treatment because it was too expensive.

“Health insurers have passed the costs on to patients through higher deductibles and out-of-pocket fees,” Manley pointed out. “This has proven to be a real problem for the American consumer. It causes them to either ignore care and/or incur medical debt. Medical debt is increasingly rampant across the country.”

For now, the Affordable Care Act outlines reimbursable caps, but Manley thinks they should be updated. His group also supports a cap on the price of insulin, which a 2020 study found is much higher in the United States than in most countries.

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The Federal Children’s Health Insurance Program helps provide insurance for more than 620,000 Kentucky children.

A new report reveals that CHIP, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week, is a lifeline for families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but don’t have access to employer-sponsored coverage.

Emily Beauregard, executive director of Kentucky Voices for Health, said an emergency provision enacted during the pandemic meant that children who depended on CHIP had quality health care, regardless of job or family changes. income from their parents.

“When your income changes from month to month, or if it’s seasonal because maybe you’re a farmer,” she said, “then you’re more likely to have times when your income is just over the limit – and other times when you are under the limit.”

Beauregard said the public health emergency declaration was set to expire in October. The federal government has said it will give states at least 60 days notice before the final deadline, so agencies can begin contacting families to ensure children don’t fall into the gap. cover.

Beauregard added that the state could make the 12-month continuous eligibility permanent, which she said would reduce costs along the way.

“It leads to healthier children, but it’s also less administratively expensive,” she said. “And over time, children are healthier because they are constantly covered.”

Beauregard pointed out that CHIP and Medicaid cover more than half of the country’s black and Hispanic children, and said it was essential to raise awareness of the coming changes and re-enrollment of these populations, as well as to ensure funding. sustainable federal for the program.

“All of these things allow us to ensure that children are healthier,” she said.

Research shows that children covered by CHIP visit their doctors and dentists regularly and are less likely to visit the emergency room.

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Congress is considering a major legislative package that could affect not only climate change investments, but also health care affordability. Health care advocates say it’s not coming too soon.

A study found that from 1970 to 2020, health care costs for the average American rose from $1,875 per year to over $12,500.

Jim Manley, board member of Consumers for Quality Care, said the main concern is that out-of-pocket costs are too high, according to the group’s new survey. He says Arizonans agree they are squeezed by health care costs.

“High deductibles, rising out-of-pocket expenses and unpaid medical bills plague American health care consumers,” he said, “with 75% of Arizona voters agreeing that health care costs health increase more than other things they need.”

The poll, conducted by Impact Research, found that three out of four American voters think insurance companies are “squeezing” their household budget with out-of-pocket expenses.

The US Senate could vote on the package, known as the Cut Inflation Act, by the end of the week.

Last week, Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., agreed to a bill that allows Medicare to negotiate certain prices drugs and to cap prescription drug costs.

Tammy Caputi, a member of the Scottsdale City Council, said medical debt is forcing many Arizonans, including her constituents, to cut back on food and other essentials. She said some were even losing their homes or being pushed into bankruptcy.

“The general consensus,” she said, “is that Congress should cap insurance deductibles, prescription drug copays, and all these other reimbursable maximums, to such an extent that people don’t have need to skip their care and go to debt medicine.”

Since no Republicans plan to vote for the bill, Senate Democrats say they will pass it as part of the budget reconciliation process, but must ensure that their 50-member caucus and the vice-president vote yes to do so. Passage could depend on Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, who has yet to reveal how she plans to vote.

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