On Tuesday, March 10, I had an opportunity to attend the Green County Board of Supervisors meeting, along with staff from Sen. Jon Erpenbach's office and Brian Schoeneck, financial services director for the Wisconsin Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Inc. While all nursing homes, both public and private, are facing funding challenges and are important to our county, the purpose of the meeting was to highlight the serious funding issues facing Pleasant View Nursing Home. The meeting was positive and constructive, and should reassure the people of Green County that their nursing home is well run, has strong support of county and area state elected officials, and is not going away.
County nursing homes serve a vital role for communities throughout Wisconsin. Currently, there are 42 county homes located in 37 counties. State law requires county nursing homes to provide care for mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents. At Pleasant View, a majority of residents either have been diagnosed with dementia, have complex medical needs and behavior issues, are receiving psychoactive drugs, are receiving respiratory care, require rehabilitation or are Medicaid residents that other nursing homes aren't able to care for.
Because it costs more money to care for many of the residents at county nursing homes, they need federal, state and local government support through our tax dollars to continue operating. This fact also is true of private nursing homes that serve a significant amount of Medicaid residents. If government support isn't enough, nursing homes are faced either with taking a loss, closing their doors, or shifting their cost to private pay residents, which increases health care costs for all of us. In 2006-2007, 96 percent of all county nursing homes suffered Medicaid losses. The average nursing home lost $34.47 per resident day, or an annual loss of more than $758,300 serving its Medicaid residents. As a result, private pay residents subsidized Medicaid by approximately $66 per day or a staggering $2,000 per month.
Green County taxpayers always have provided some support for Pleasant View Nursing Home through property taxes. In 1975, county taxpayer support for Pleasant View was $354,654. The lowest amount of county taxpayer dollars in the past 34 years going to Pleasant View was $57,495 in 1994. While overall expenses to operate Pleasant View have grown over time, in 2009 the projected amount of county taxpayer support needed is $631,971.
Fortunately, there is a better option to fund Pleasant View than through significantly increasing property taxes. The bottom line is state government needs to prioritize county nursing home services and be a better partner with Green County. The result will be a win-win for nursing home residents, staff and Green County property taxpayers.
Achieving this goal is simple and possible. In 2005, the state approved legislation on a unanimous, bipartisan vote that ensured extra federal money that came to the state would be directed back to county nursing homes and not diverted to other state government programs. If this practice by the state continues, Pleasant View Nursing Home would receive approximately an additional $401,000 in its next budget. This payment would signal the state is serious about serving nursing home residents and protecting property tax payers.
Unfortunately, the budget repair bill which was approved by the state and Governor Doyle's version of the state budget eliminate the requirement that extra federal money generated by county nursing homes be sent back to the county. The governor is proposing to keep the money in the Medicaid Trust Fund and spend it on other government programs. With the governor's state budget increasing spending 7.1 percent over the next two years to over $60 billion, I am certain we can prioritize county nursing homes and find $15 million in other areas of the state budget, which is the amount needed to restore the state law I refer to above.
In addition to the state budget debate that will occur, I am working on legislation that will help achieve the goal of protecting property taxpayers and our seniors in nursing homes.
Given the current economic climate facing families, seniors and businesses in our state, it has never been more important for you to make your voice heard. Please contact your elected officials and ask them to support Pleasant View Nursing Home AND property taxpayers by restoring the state law that will help Green County residents.
- Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, serves the 80th Assembly District, which includes all of Green County and parts of Lafayette, Rock and Dane counties.
County nursing homes serve a vital role for communities throughout Wisconsin. Currently, there are 42 county homes located in 37 counties. State law requires county nursing homes to provide care for mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents. At Pleasant View, a majority of residents either have been diagnosed with dementia, have complex medical needs and behavior issues, are receiving psychoactive drugs, are receiving respiratory care, require rehabilitation or are Medicaid residents that other nursing homes aren't able to care for.
Because it costs more money to care for many of the residents at county nursing homes, they need federal, state and local government support through our tax dollars to continue operating. This fact also is true of private nursing homes that serve a significant amount of Medicaid residents. If government support isn't enough, nursing homes are faced either with taking a loss, closing their doors, or shifting their cost to private pay residents, which increases health care costs for all of us. In 2006-2007, 96 percent of all county nursing homes suffered Medicaid losses. The average nursing home lost $34.47 per resident day, or an annual loss of more than $758,300 serving its Medicaid residents. As a result, private pay residents subsidized Medicaid by approximately $66 per day or a staggering $2,000 per month.
Green County taxpayers always have provided some support for Pleasant View Nursing Home through property taxes. In 1975, county taxpayer support for Pleasant View was $354,654. The lowest amount of county taxpayer dollars in the past 34 years going to Pleasant View was $57,495 in 1994. While overall expenses to operate Pleasant View have grown over time, in 2009 the projected amount of county taxpayer support needed is $631,971.
Fortunately, there is a better option to fund Pleasant View than through significantly increasing property taxes. The bottom line is state government needs to prioritize county nursing home services and be a better partner with Green County. The result will be a win-win for nursing home residents, staff and Green County property taxpayers.
Achieving this goal is simple and possible. In 2005, the state approved legislation on a unanimous, bipartisan vote that ensured extra federal money that came to the state would be directed back to county nursing homes and not diverted to other state government programs. If this practice by the state continues, Pleasant View Nursing Home would receive approximately an additional $401,000 in its next budget. This payment would signal the state is serious about serving nursing home residents and protecting property tax payers.
Unfortunately, the budget repair bill which was approved by the state and Governor Doyle's version of the state budget eliminate the requirement that extra federal money generated by county nursing homes be sent back to the county. The governor is proposing to keep the money in the Medicaid Trust Fund and spend it on other government programs. With the governor's state budget increasing spending 7.1 percent over the next two years to over $60 billion, I am certain we can prioritize county nursing homes and find $15 million in other areas of the state budget, which is the amount needed to restore the state law I refer to above.
In addition to the state budget debate that will occur, I am working on legislation that will help achieve the goal of protecting property taxpayers and our seniors in nursing homes.
Given the current economic climate facing families, seniors and businesses in our state, it has never been more important for you to make your voice heard. Please contact your elected officials and ask them to support Pleasant View Nursing Home AND property taxpayers by restoring the state law that will help Green County residents.
- Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, serves the 80th Assembly District, which includes all of Green County and parts of Lafayette, Rock and Dane counties.
