Frank Pallone: “What they are proposing for Medicaid, which, as you mentioned, the majority of the people think Medicaid is just for…”

“What they are proposing for Medicaid, which, as you mentioned, the majority of the people think Medicaid is just for poor people, the reality is the majority of Medicaid funds are used for senior citizens in nursing homes. One of the things that I mentioned in the past, going back to last year, was that we are going to have a crisis. There was an article in the New York Times back in November that says, ``Critics say Republican budget will create shortage of nursing home beds for elderly. The reason for that is exactly what you said, which is that the number of people who are over 85, the over 85 population is growing dramatically and will be over the next 10 or 20 years.'' So the numbers that the Republicans are using for Medicaid, and they are going to block grant them to the States, do not take into account how many more seniors are going to be out there that are going to need nursing home care. It completely ignores it. So we know there is going to be a shortage of beds in nursing homes.”