Why we need the NY Health Act

Nursing homes around the country - including here in New York State - are failing in many ways. For the most part, this is NOT because of inept management or a poor quality of medical personnel: it’s because they are designed for profit, not for care.

Long-term care continues to be understaffed, poorly regulated and vulnerable to predation by for-profit conglomerates and private-equity firms. The nursing aides who provide the bulk of bedside assistance still earn poverty wages, and lockdown policies have forced patients into dangerous solitude.

Nursing home operators have long complained that Medicaid doesn’t pay them enough to provide adequate care, but the business is not, apparently, a bad one to be in. Two-thirds of nursing homes are for-profits, and the sector has been swallowed up by corporate chains and investment firms whose involvement correlates to lower staffing and worse care. Full article here.

Just part of why NYPAN is pushing hard to pass the NY Health Act this year, to provide comprehensive, lower cost healthcare - including medical, dental, drugs, optical, aural, mental health and even long term care.