04/23/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/23/2024 08:14
"Seniors could lose access to 280,000 nursing home beds, forcing older Americans to pick up and move to nursing homes far from friends and family, if they are lucky enough to find an open spot"
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement after the Biden Administration's Department of Health and Human Services issued its final nursing home staffing mandate:
"The Biden Administration's one-size-fits-all nursing home mandate is a disaster for America's seniors, particularly seniors living in rural and underserved communities. Seniors could lose access to 280,000 nursing home beds, forcing older Americans to pick up and move to nursing homes far from friends and family, if they are lucky enough to find an open spot. Nursing homes are not suffering from a lack of mandates. They're facing a lack of nurses. This rule would only make things worse for our seniors and the health care providers who support them.
"Over 1,000 nursing home groups have spoken out against this overreaching regulation, yet the Biden Administration is again choosing to ignore the American people in favor of bigger and more intrusive government. The Ways and Means Committee has passed bipartisan legislation to block the implementation and enforcement of this staffing mandate. We will continue to fight for quality care for American seniors in every single community."
Key Background
Committee Activity