MONROE - A referendum asking voters to help put Pleasant View Nursing Home in the black is under discussion by the county committee that oversees the facility.
The nursing home's oversight committee is discussing the possibility of a referendum on next year's ballot at its monthly meeting tonight, Oct. 10.
Herb Hanson, county supervisor and committee chair, doesn't expect a final decision from the committee.
"I'm guessing the committee will request it go to the full county board," he said.
The referendum would ask Green County voters to allow Pleasant View to exceed the levy limit "so we can pay our bills," Hanson said. "We have been in the red for years."
A pressing financial drain on the nursing home is the money it loses by taking Medicaid patients, he said. These are patients with less than $2,000 in assets who are too poor to afford nursing home care without federal subsidies.
Medicaid reimbursements to the facility, distributed by the state, don't cover patient costs, according to Hanson.
"Medicaid, we're losing money on. We have for years," he said.
The issue is not likely to disappear anytime soon, with Green County's population aging and recent U.S. Census data showing poverty on the rise in the county, at least among children.
"If county facilities go out of existence, if those facilities aren't there, where do those Medicaid people go?" Hanson said.
The nursing home's oversight committee is discussing the possibility of a referendum on next year's ballot at its monthly meeting tonight, Oct. 10.
Herb Hanson, county supervisor and committee chair, doesn't expect a final decision from the committee.
"I'm guessing the committee will request it go to the full county board," he said.
The referendum would ask Green County voters to allow Pleasant View to exceed the levy limit "so we can pay our bills," Hanson said. "We have been in the red for years."
A pressing financial drain on the nursing home is the money it loses by taking Medicaid patients, he said. These are patients with less than $2,000 in assets who are too poor to afford nursing home care without federal subsidies.
Medicaid reimbursements to the facility, distributed by the state, don't cover patient costs, according to Hanson.
"Medicaid, we're losing money on. We have for years," he said.
The issue is not likely to disappear anytime soon, with Green County's population aging and recent U.S. Census data showing poverty on the rise in the county, at least among children.
"If county facilities go out of existence, if those facilities aren't there, where do those Medicaid people go?" Hanson said.