Thirty health care providers gathered on the front steps of Langhorne Gardens Health and Rehabilitation Center in Bucks County Thursday morning. These nurses and other professionals stood together in PA’s first congressional district to remind Representative Brian Fitzpatrick that they are counting on him to keep his word and stand up to his Republican colleagues who have called for draconian cuts to Medicaid – cuts that could eliminate half of their workforce – if not shutter their facility entirely.
Behind those health care professionals, inside one of Pennsylvania’s larger and most highly rated long-term nursing care facilities, reside individuals too elderly, ill or injured to care for themselves.
In front of the men and women who spend their days feeding, bathing, medicating, and providing physical as well as emotional support to the community’s weakest individuals, stood SEIU Healthcare PA Union President Matthew Yarnell, and Pennsylvania Healthcare Association President and CEO Zack Shamberg – two men who, admittingly, spend most of their time on opposite sides of the issues. Or at least they did, until looming Medicaid cuts caused an existential crisis in American hospitals and long-term facilities, bringing facility managers and nursing care workers together for a common cause.
“We thought it was time to join together, to stand together, to advocate together, to collectively bargain together so that we can help preserve the long-term care continuum together,” Shamberg explained.
Emphasizing how remarkable the collaboration is, Shamberg added, “This is completely unprecedented, and many people would call it unlikely that you should see union and management coming together.” But, he says, everyone involved knows a united front is required because – across the board – Medicaid pays the bills. “These are important times. These are scary times for long term care. In Pennsylvania, in the last five years, 30 nursing homes have closed.”
Shamberg also says that – across the commonwealth – Medicaid doesn’t have any fat left to cut. “Pennsylvania has the fifth oldest population in the entire country. That doesn’t bode well, not only for today or tomorrow, but for the next 10 to 15 to 20 years.”
Natalice Hankey, chief administrator for the Langhorne facility – after giving a nod to her talented nursing staff – speculated that if the Republicans pass their budget, she’d have to eliminate capacity at the 120-bed facility. “You have to think about it, we have to be able to provide a safe environment for them [the patients].”
Hankey says that even if she wanted to keep the patients who couldn’t afford to pay, without the Medicaid funding she’d have to lay half of her staff off, necessitating a reduced patient load overall. “We need to be able to make sure that it’s a safe work environment, as well. So, with the amount of care that most of our residents need, I would say it could drop our beds to half.”
It’s not just the straight up $800 billion that has these advocates worried. There are other requirements in the proposed budget that these two sides have come together to fight.
The Republican-controlled House has called for Medicaid recipient work requirements. “Other states who have tried to implement work requirements, have ended up wasting tens of millions of dollars on bureaucratic red tape and mistakenly kicked people off their health care coverage,” said Yarnell, who represents 8,000 health care workers across the commonwealth.
The speakers pointed to states like Georgia that lost $86 million, when the state instituted work requirements.
Bill England, Manager of External Affairs at the Pennsylvania Health Access Network – a consumer driven advocacy group – added that younger workers on Medicaid help to build local economies when small employers can’t afford to provide healthcare coverage. “Medicaid is an investment that keeps low-wage workers working, creates local jobs, and boosts small businesses, and generates economic growth.”
England joined the others in reminding Rep. Fitzpatrick and his colleagues that workers with access to health coverage improve local economies and that Medicaid cuts put their employment in jeopardy. “Pennsylvania would lose over 61,000 jobs if the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion were eliminated, including nearly 28,000 jobs in health care, 33,000 jobs in other sectors.”
Work requirement isn’t the only poison pill in the Republican budget. The bill tells Pennsylvania (and all the states) how much tax they can impose on nursing homes, tying the hands of state lawmakers who use the revenue to increase federal contributions to – you guessed it – Medicaid. This regulation, if imposed by Congress, would further restrict the mechanisms states use to increase Medicaid funding for their constituents.
Fitzpatrick has put the workers and the owner/operators of these facilities in a bind. While his website still boasts his desire to guarantee Medicaid and CHIP programs as part of his plan for “a health care system that works for everyone” – just last month he voted to advance a bill that cuts both.
The Bucks County Beacon’s calls to Fitzpatrick’s office were not returned by press time. And judging by the very public press conferences staged by both union and management – all across the commonwealth – advocates appear worried that Fitzpatrick’s commitment to his constituents’ health care may have vanished in the face of President Trump and Speaker Johnson’s unrelenting effort to fund tax cuts for the wealth class.
President Yarnell took the time to remind Rep. Fitzpatrick that voting for the Medicaid cuts would be a deal breaker. Choosing the carrot over the stick, the labor leader said, “Brian Fitzpatrick, we really appreciate your leadership. We appreciate you standing up. And if you have the backs of folks who need Medicaid, we’re going be sure that we have your back when it comes to the next time that you are running.”
What if Fitzpatrick doesn’t protect Medicaid? Yarnell reiterated, “I just want to be loud and clear. We are going to do everything we can to support you if you’re going to do the right thing and continue to stand up for Pennsylvanians and folks all across this country who need vital services from Medicaid.”
Today, the public effort to protect Medicaid is back on the road with a national press call featuring a different cast of characters, including western PA Democratic Congressman and Executive Board Member of the House Progressive Caucus, Chris Deluzio. Earlier this week, Delusio shared his sentiments with the Bucks County Beacon.
Deluzio summarized the quandary Republicans find themselves in. “They’re focused on slashing programs that hardworking Pennsylvanians rely on to pay for more tax giveaways to billionaires, ballooning the deficit along the way. I think that’s wrong, and I won’t stop fighting back against their fiscally reckless plundering of our government.”
