Bitter Cup Of Tea

The Tea Party overwhelmingly is made up of older Americans, and they rallied long and hard to say "hands off my benefits!" and "No death panels for Grandma!"  As such, they turned out in powerful numbers for the GOP and helped usher in a major wave of Republican lawmakers at the state level ready to make cuts.

And now America's seniors are finding out exactly what those cuts are.

Among the most dramatic of the proposed cuts is the severe reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates to nursing homes in Texas. Facing a shortfall of up to $27 billion, state lawmakers want to reduce the rate by 10%. But payments to nursing homes would plummet by a total of 34% because they would also lose federal matching funds.

This could result in the shuttering of 850 of the state's 1,000 nursing homes, forcing up to 45,000 elderly residents to find other accommodations, said David Thomason, chair of the Texas Senior Advocacy Coalition.

Texas nursing homes already lose money on Medicaid patients so they could not absorb another reduction, facility operators say. If rates were cut further, many would be forced to stop participating in the Medicaid program and would need to either close the buildings or convert them to other health-related uses.

As it is, Sears Methodist Retirement System in Austin has to solicit donations and charge private patients more to make up the $4 million loss it suffers on its Medicaid residents, said Keith Perry, who heads the non-profit. If the cuts go through, Sears Methodist would have to stop caring for its roughly 400 Medicaid patients, whose average age is 84.

"There's no way we could staff those facilities at those reimbursement rates," Perry said.

This scenario is terrifying Carol Poor, whose 83-year-old mother lives in an Alzheimer's unit at Christian Care Centers in Gunter, a town north of Dallas. If her mother were discharged, Poor said she would have to retire early from her secretarial job to care for her mother since neither can afford to pay for a nurse or nursing home.

"My mother worked and paid taxes all these years," said Poor. "She deserves someone to be there for her."

Congrats, Tea Party seniors.  You gave the Republicans your vote.  Now you get to pay like the rest of us.  Didn't even take them more than a few months to sell you up the river with the rest of America.  Government is wasteful!  Don't tread on me!  Let's shrink government!

Only it's government that was providing Medicaid support for millions of seniors.  And now that's on the block too.

Hey, the Dirty F'ckin Hippies tried to warn you.