Petri Joins Five Others In Opposing Nursing Home Cuts

7/8/11 – Six of Wisconsin’s eight U-S House members have asked Medicare not to go ahead with proposed cuts in federal aid to nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare-and-Medicaid Services have called for a nearly 13-percent drop in aid, based on projected over-spending for the fiscal year. But House Republicans Tom Petri of Fond du Lac along with Sean Duffy, and Reid Ribble – and Democrats Gwen Moore, Tammy Baldwin, and Ron Kind – all say the agency’s jumping the gun. In a letter to the agency, they say the Medicare budget is based on only three months of data, and they call it “unprecedented.” Tom Moore of the Wisconsin Health Care Association says Medicare funding changes have traditionally been based on a year’s worth of data. The group wants the Medicare to examine at least nine more months of spending trends. The group says it would accept a three-percent cut in nursing home aid for the next fiscal year, instead of the double-digit reduction proposed by the government. The only Wisconsin House members who didn’t ask for a review were Republicans Jim Sensenbrenner and Budget Chairman Paul Ryan.