Angus King

Every day that you delay a nursing-home placement, the veteran is happier and the taxpayers are happier.

Everything we talked about still comes back to workforce, doesn't it? Home-based care, respite care. It's all having the people.

I think that's something we have to figure out how to waive or something.

Well, it seems to me that's an area that we should be talking about in Washington.

The cheapest health intervention is the one that doesn't happen.

I've told my staff I want to be the falls senator; without falling.

That's a big part of----

Well, I think that's--that's something that you're going to have to be thinking about because it ties back to the workforce problem.

Could you define expansion? Are we talking 20, 30 percent, 40 percent? I mean----

If you can't--if you can't get enough people, you're not going to be able to meet the staffing ratios which could mean a loss of capacity rather than a gain for the veterans.

What can we do to expand and support home health services which I think everybody, including veterans, would prefer and really ramp that up.

And my problem with the regulation is it's the best being the enemy of the good because if the result is closed nursing homes and fewer beds, we haven't gained anything.

If we don't have the people to staff them, it ain't gonna work.

The truth is, the work just begins when the bill passes.

I want to publicly thank the chair and co-chair of the committee, Jon Tester of Montana and Jerry Moran of Kansas.

I've got lots of notes.

We want to keep that permanent.

Prevention, prevention, prevention.

By the way, that's a problem across the board. We had an Armed Services Committee hearing this week about the inability of many small businesses to interact with the Pentagon.

I like the idea. In other words, additional federal funds not generally but targeted toward workforce retention?

I mean that can't work for very long.

The good is we have a historically low unemployment rate, but that creates the question of the migratory workforce.

If retention is the goal, one of the ironies is that as you have gaps and you have longer hours and--that is a vicious downward spiral because people burn out.

As the population ages.

I don't think there's one in Washington County either.