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| State Rep. Joe Emrick on the far left, for once |
Nobody made any promises, and several of them pointed out that any changes they made would not take effect for another year.
What nobody at that time knew was that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was planning to reduce these payments another 11%. In late July, it adopted a final rule, and County officials project that it will reduce Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements by another million dollars.
So who picks up the cost? The County, and that's you and me.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that it will be impossible for Gracedale to operate without some kind of County contribution and even Lamont McClure now concedes there's no $60 million pot at the end of the rainbow.
34 comments:
Don't lie that is not what he said. much of this is poor reimbursement capture by an Administration out of touch with management ability.
This has been the scenario Stoffa has wanted, blame Gracedale for his grab for money for his pal Attiyah.
It is past time for Stoffa and his cast of no talent hacks to go.
government just should not be managing an old folks poor house. privatize the joint
Once again, like the teabaggers at the federal level our County council refuses to see the light right in front of them to cover these costs..I'm getting tired of repeating myself but you cannot get rid of deficits by just cutting alone..Everyone including Angle, Stoffa, two newspapers, and yourself told people that a tax increase would be needed to cover Gracedale's expenses if it is kept by the county..People voted 3 to 1 in favor of it anyway, basically saying the same thing they said about open space..We want it, we'll pay for it!!! A mill in taxes brings in about &.5 million per year..A one mill tax increase will cost the average taxpayer about $1.50 a week...Get it done already..Even Mr. Miller, our tea bagger with the generous union pension isn't stupid enough to think that Gracedale can survive without a most increase in revenues..Doesn't matter if you oppose it or not..The people in the county supported it and want it taken care of..
Meant to say a tax increase of one mill will bring in 7.5 million a year..Also meant to say that gracedale cannot survive without more County revenue, not most..Can't type fast, lol
Bernie,
This is actually a big glitch in the way reimbursements work for Medicare and Medicaid, and it is why you see private hospitals like Coordinated Health opening up around the Valley as fast as they can. If a Medicare patient goes to LV Hospital for a hip replacement, for example, the paid amount for the procedure will be less than if it were done at Coordinated Health. As a result, more doctors are opting to use the private operating rooms with the higher reimbursement.
This is an inherent flaw in the system and needs to be corrected. And by corrected, I mean level playing field between public and private providers.
Publius
I agree, but how long will it take? How many people will the County have to lay off before it happens? How much will taxes go up?
Anon 8:50, The voters did vote to keep Gracedale, but did not ask for a tax increase and will not appreciate one if they get it. The challenge has been to turn Gracedale around, not subsidize it.
Bernie,
You can not turn around Gracedale without subsidizing it first. Give it a break!
So what you're saying is that the voters were so clueless that they didn't here anything anyone said about a tax increase..You can't be that stupid Bernie..If people are told that a one mill increase was in order to continue to keep gracedale private they would not be shocked nor would they care..I'd be thrilled to pay a $1.50 a week to know that my mother would be well cared for if she would need to go there...I'm sure that you and the teanuts would just send their loved ones to the desert with the old indians to die, lol, but most of us sane people would be willing to fork over the $1.50 a week...Thank you 11:16..You are absolutely correct!
Let the downsizing of the facility and the firing of leeching goldbricks commence. They won the battle and lost the war. There's no more money. It's been in all the papers. A government that can't fix potholes shouldn't be attempting healthcare.
Tom---since your so thrilled to pay the extra $ 1.50 per week---pay my $ 1.50 as well.
Downsize the place already --lay off people --get better management and maybe it will pay for itself. Also; add another $ 1.50 for the repairs and upgrades it needs.
Yay?
With puzzled expressions,
Northampton County voters
Tom Foolery,
I am saying that the voters voted to keep Gracedale in County hands. They did not give a green light for a tax hike, and I suspect the vote would have been much closer if the question were more honestly stated.
So the voters said keep Gracedale, and the challenge is to do so without costing them any money. That should be the goal. That's the financially responsible path. If may be impossible to achieve, but we have to try. I call that good government. Don't you?
Most people's most frustrating interactions are with government or industries heavily regulated by government. Gracedale is a good example. It's a mess and can't be fixed by the same government that couldn't run it before. It's workers scored a tricky victory that will cost taxpayers unnecessarily, and cost the workers their jobs, ultimately. Everybody loses. That's what passes for good government.
Very good observation Publius.
In the future, we will see many more hospitals closing, because medicare, medicaid and state funds are on the decline. About 25 hospitals in NJ have already closed their doors in the last decade.
Pa hospitals have been held up by greater state aid, but that is changing as well.
Trish
Keeping Gracedale in public hands was a Pyrrhic victory for the employees and the residents of Gracedale. In the end, they both would have been better off had it been sold. The employees would have still had a union, their jobs would have been secured though transferred to new management, the governemnt would not have been running a nursing home which it knows nothing about, the people of the County would have been spared a tax increase, and most importantly, the residents (a group rarely mentioned by the SAVE GRACEDALERS compared to the employees), would have had better care and funding. The only change would have been that the employees would be unable to earn astronomical salaries in overtime and pensions like the Gracedale aide that makes over $100k and is the highest paid employee in the entire County government. Unfortunately, some people have to touch the stove to find out it's hot no matter how many times it's explained to them by the cook so get your palms ready. Slowly, people are beginning to realize what an albatross around the neck Gracedale is going to be for the County and what a mess it is. It appears to me that the Administration and Council seem to be ignoring the white elephant in the room and needs to start talking about what is going to be done now that we're in this mess and stop rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic talking about saving salamanders in Upper Mount Bethel Township...
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anon 3:59, or should I say God. I have never read so many comments by people who know nothing of the healthcare industry. Profit is profit. That was always at the heart of the matter for Gracedale. People knew that and voted accordingly. Many, many people. Many who have nothing to do with unions voted to keep it. They know damn well that as good as private care is you are no more than a notation on a ledger book.
So like it was said to Bernie, give it up already. Anything coming from this Administration and council will not be trusted. Until a new Administration comes in without a preconceived agenda like Angle/Stoffa, we won't know what is really needed. The county home ran quite well up until Stoffa showed up. All profit until he got involved.
As to an aide making over 100K in overtime, that would be regular time plus overtime. Do you suggest a new full time employee be hired with pension, health care and other added costs. Not to smart are you.
Stoffa is a mope, he is no leader. His entire life he has been a mid-level capacity manager at best. Quick with a goofy saying, very short on any real substantive action.
One example, for over three years Gracedale has tried to get the Administration to allow them to hire more part-timers to cut down on overtime. Guess what the Administration has said, 'Nothing'. That is the problem. You have Ross Marcus, who couldn't find Gracedale with a map and Stoffa who doesn't care.
Time for competence in Northampton County.
Stoffa tried to lead and now he's stuck with a mob-instituted financial pile of shit that's really a poor excuse for a union jobs program at the expense of proper care for patients.
That Otter asshole wrote a D- first year law student referendum that leaves wide authority to Stoffa and the council majority to do as they like with the money pit - so long as they keep it "open" for five years.
Nobody guaranteed the goldbricks their jobs at unlimited taxpayer expense. Get ready. Tough spraint.
bend over and spread those cheeks norco dummies - no vasiline baby
It figures the teabaggers would go there. what else is new.
hey now. i'm glad to see my fellow travelers embrace my favorite past time.
12:34, i can't find my car keys from last night. i dropped them in your house and the next thing i remember ...
Anonymous 8:50AM
You might want to keep in mind that these warnings were out there and you might want to report that there were those who came out of that voting booth not knowing that they had voted incorrectly due to the legal lingo on that referrendum. So don't cotinue to speak about how fair that vote was. You and your goon brothers and sisters have been molesting Gracedale for years. But the times they are a changing and I think you will find out that it does not bode well for the unions, who make up but 6% of the work force. Unfortunatley the tax payers will be looking at a large tax increase and it will come at us from all sectors of the local governments. Meanwhile, as is usually the case, the very people you and your fellow goons want to help will be the most adversely affected members of the economic problems soon to be upon us. So keep up the good work Mr. Dellassandro your bad days are just in front of you.
Tom Foolery
You really believe you will get by with $1.50 a week? Come see me I have 10 Edels, a really great car, to sell you. Cheap a $1000 per car. Bring real money like gold or silver.
Hey Chris, nice to wish ill on a disabled man. Maybe we can trow people out of their medicare wheelchairs and melt down the metal.
Those are just a few of the reasons the teabaggers will be thrown out of office. The nation caught a glimpse of a tea party future in America and said , "NO'.
Time to elect grownups who make rational decisions based on logic and compassion but especially common sense and not ideological dogma.
Brendon
Let's eliminate all taxes and regulations. Then the wealthy captains of industry can even save all their lobbying expenses and take all jobs overseas. Americans can just go to church and thank God that corporations will do whats best for them. End medicare. The oldsters will just get sick and die. Next issue to solve. Abolish all unions. Put those 5 year olds on the assembly line. Oh I forgot, there are none. They are overseas as are the off shore tax havens used to avoid paying taxes.
Boy, this tea bagger mentality is fun once you get into it. Hm, immigration. Arrest them all. Gee who will do that? Federales? May need to hire more to get 11 million out of the country. No new federal jobs so next idea. Hm, second amendment solution???
A very important point that must be made:
When medicare was created, its goal was to provide medical care for people who retired. RETIRED. Now you have a new era of "retired people" who are working part-time, paying no medicare or SS tax on their wages. I have posted this before. People are turning 62, getting on the system, and working with a tax break. Those part-time jobs could go to non-retired people who are paying into the system, instead of draining it. . Now we have too many part-time jobs evolving. They pay no medical benefits. People wind up on medicaid. Problematic. The "retired" people are bombing their own platoon
Yes, I get it. They lost all of their money in the 2008 crash. SO did everyone else.
Trish
Brendon
Mr. Dellasandro is a big boy in a game he will not win for the simple reason that unions will not be reaping the money they have in the past and that is a shame because it will have a tremendous impact on consuming. We are a consuming economy and they need us to buy. That is not going to happen due to the lack of jobs, a stagnant housing market and a people who are now going to be a lot more frugal then they were. That frugality will be carried on by their children and grandchildren. And the unions will either restore themselves to the original good organizations they were or they will disappear. They only represent 6% of the work force today. It won't take a lot to topple them and they will basically do it to themselves. Their image is shot full of holes across the nation and it is both the private and public unions that are in trouble. Watch how many public union employers will stop collecting union dues. That will put a lot of money back into the hands of those who are anti-union to begin with but who had to pay despite the fact that they were not a member. I don't have to toss anyone off their medicare walker, bike or whatever they are riding. In a few more years medicare will be broke just as LBJ was told in 1964 when he proposed and put into place that huge dinosaur of a program. All these programs, medicare, medicaid, social security, plan D have moved closer and closer to the abyss. And now we are looking into it. As to the Tea Party, I would guess you have never been to one I suggest you go. I had been a member but left because the leadership was stuck at step 3. Hopefully that is going to be changed. You might want to consider not using the homesexual phrase,teabaggers. Even non tea party people don't like it. However, this is still America and thus you can still use your own discretion thanks to the First Amendment.
You can't get medicare until you reach age 65. It pays "up" to 80% of many of your medical expenses. In a civilized society, what is your alternative. Coupons, oh I'm sorry that would be "vouchers". What voucher do you give to a 72 year old with respiratory and congenital heart disease.
What will their premiums be? Don't worry, it isn't important. They would never be able to get insurance anyway.
trish/brenda, you baggers are amazing.
these three are the three blind mice. they only showed for political points. no action just a photo op.
My alternative is either to raise the retirement age, or make all income, regardless of age, subject to medicare and SS taxes.
If you want to work past 65 , then work, but pay into the system. If you stop working, someone non-retired can have your job, and pay into the system.
This is a tax hike. Therefore I am not a bagger. Who's Brenda?
Trish
Trish, I actually agree with you for the most part. I believe all income should be taxed for SS and medicare. I believe there should be no limit on the income level you are taxed on. I believe that SS should be mean tested in that there is a maximum amount you can collect regardless of your income level.
I believe the Bush tax cuts must be allowed to expire. They did nothing for the overall economy and their demise would go a long way in cutting the deficit paired with budget cuts.
I do believe that if sane and logical people, Democrats and Republicans sit down and talk without preordained lines in the sand based on rabid ideological dogma, we can solve this crises.
The Country was founded on compromise, messy and angry, but it got us started. Let us continue in the American way of using are brains more than our biases.
Dr. Truth
The ideologues on the far right - don't believe in compromise. Zealots that they are, there is no room for reasoned discourse and compromise.
They have caused Congress to waste months of time on a resolution that could be passed in a minute to the utter detriment of the Country.
Everyone believes the govt can and should be made more efficient. Using the non-homeoerotic phrase tea baggers pushed the real issue off the stage. Where is the legislation promised by the Republicans to encourage job creation? There hasn't been any. Do you think the man or woman who has been out of work for 2 years wants anything other than a job?
Destroy demand. Evicerate the programs that would enhance education and employment.
Then go to the mail box and collection your tea party despised social security and pension checks. Or your farm subsidy check for not growing crops.
The vast majority of Americans agree that the size of gov't should be reduced and further that the top 2% of income earners should not be immune from any sacrifice. And the dupes of the corporate class decry elimination of the failed Bush 10 year tax cuts to the wealthy.
Dont think that the right alone is energized and outraged.
You will be stopped before you destroy this Country. Wisconsin recall elections will be the first clue that democrats, moderate republicans and independents will not allow you to have your way.
Well done T Party - Your unwillingness to compromise on the bush tax breaks to the wealthy kept the debt limit front and center for 3 months without addressing the issue.
Stock market drops 700 points over 2 days. Losses of 900 billion in stock equity.
Good thing you stood on your principles. Keep it up. We will all be destitute in a few months but you can rest easy knowing the debt problem has been solved.
The teabaggers have shown their true colors. Mostly old, white and collecting some government check or pension.
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