Somewhere down a long darkened hallway in Harrisburg there must be a group of mutants in a windowless room. They spend every moment of their life trying to conjure up new ways to suck the money of people pockets. They have no shame, no morals and for some reason keep getting elected.
Folks there is a new fee dubbed the "granny tax". What is it? Well if you have a loved one in nursing home you will be paying a $15.91 a day tax under the heading of "Pa. State Assessment". That brings the cost of care at one of the area's more attractive nursing homes to more than $7,000 a month.
The Rendell administration deemed the extra charge necessary to gain access to more federal Medicaid matching funds and avoid slashing government nursing home reimbursements. It was authorized by the Legislature in 2003, but then went through lengthy negotiations by the state and federal governments before taking effect this spring.
Facilities in which low-income, government-subsidized individuals represent more than three of every five patients actually see higher reimbursements than before, without needing to increase any of their resident fees.
But the assessment has divided nursing home providers into winners and losers and some are making it up from people through daily fees. It is people with assets in facilities with relatively small dependence on Medicaid who are affected by the assessment charge. In essence, say critics, people who are wealthy or who just saved prudently for retirement are being tapped to boost the government's subsidy of Medicaid patients. $15.91 ais the amount the state is assessing most nursing home beds across the state.
Money collected from all the assessments goes into a pool that draws additional federal matching funds for the state. About $320 million annually is being collected through the fee. The money is disbursed back to the nursing homes in a formula that favors facilities with higher numbers of Medicaid beneficiaries.
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