Medicare is one of the real cornerstones of our middle class way of life in Iowa.  Thanks to Medicare, people of all walks of life have the peace of mind of knowing that, in their senior years, they will have guaranteed access to quality medical care.  We have always assumed that Medicare was something rock solid and permanent.  Unfortunately, there are some who want to end Medicare as we know it.  

Last month, the Republican controlled House of Representatives passed a budget that has profound implications for every American - but especially for seniors.  It calls for deep funding cuts to education and Medicaid, and it effectively ends the Medicare program. In its place, Republicans would give future seniors a voucher that they can use to purchase a private health insurance plan.  Our nation must find ways to address our nation's financial situation, but this proposal is absolutely unacceptable.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that, under this proposal, future seniors will have to pay two-thirds of the cost of their health insurance by 2030.  Those out-of-pocket costs will average more than $12,000 per person per year - more than double the current cost to seniors.  How is an elderly widow or widower struggling to live on a fixed income going to come up with $12,000 for health insurance?  Even worse, many seniors - especially those with serious health conditions - simply won't be able to find a health insurer that will offer an affordable plan.  This is simply not right - especially when people have paid into Medicare their entire life and count on it to deliver comprehensive health benefits.  

Many will say that those currently on Medicare will not be affected and that Americans 55 and older will be able to keep their current Medicare coverage.  That's a woefully short-sighted argument.  What will happen to the children and grandchildren of those currently on Medicare?  This cynical argument assumes that seniors don't care about the next generation, and in talking to Iowans about this issue, this is not true.  Frankly, in my opinion, the proposal to dismantle Medicare is not just unworkable and unfair; it is unconscionable.  

This is not meant to be a scare tactic, but a call to action.  I know Iowans will not stand for this unwise, unbalanced, unfair assault on their economic security and middle-class way of life.  The Republicans' proposed Medicare cut hasn't come before the Senate yet, and I will do everything I can to stop it.  I will do everything I can to protect the security and health of today's seniors, and all Americans who will one day turn to Medicare.  And I encourage all Iowans to voice their opposition to eliminating Medicare.

For more information, please feel free to visit my website at harkin.senate.gov or contact any of my offices in Washington, D.C. or Iowa.

May 17, 2011 - Nursing homes are seeking exemptions from the new health care law, claiming an inability to fund new insurance coverage mandates, according to the New York Times.

According to analysis conducted by MapLight, over the past decade (Jan 1. 2001-Dec. 31 2010):

• The nursing home industry has contributed $12.4 million to candidate campaign committees of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives elected since the 109th Congress. The American Health Care Association and its employees, one of the groups quoted in the New York Times article, accounts for over $4.5 million in campaign contributions.
• Total contributions from the nursing home industry have increased each election cycle, from $1.4 million in the 2002 election cycle to $3.5 million in the 2010 election cycle.

Breakdown by Party per Election Cycle

A closer look at contributions from nursing homes shows that their contributions to senators are fairly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats within each cycle, but contributions to House members vary according to which party is in power. While there was only one cycle in the last five in which either party in the Senate received more than 53% of nursing home contributions (57% to Democrats in the 2004 cycle), the party in control of the House of Representatives never received less than 58% of nursing home contributions to House members.

U.S. Congress:

House of Representatives:

Senate:

Monetary and non-monetary contributions to candidate campaign committees of legislators serving in the 109th, 110th, 111th and 112th Congresses. Contributions data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics ( OpenSecrets.org). Contribution totals are based on campaign contribution figures connected to the nursing home industry as established by the Center for Responsive Politics.

A link to this data release can be found here.

WASHINGTON - May 9, 2011 - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin wrote to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in response to a new report showing that 88 percent of the powerful antipsychotic drugs being prescribed to nursing home residents with dementia were for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

"Nursing home residents are getting antipsychotic drugs for dementia, not psychoses," Grassley said.  "No one seems to have a good handle on whether the patients are benefiting from these medicines or whether they're being prescribed drugs that don't help and might even harm them.  The government needs to do a better job of protecting nursing home residents from unnecessary drugs.  I'll continue to work to hold the Medicare program and nursing homes accountable for the quality of care delivered to nursing home patients."

"Late last year we convened a panel of national experts on Alzheimer's and they told us that we must do a better job of providing care to the rapidly growing number of elders with dementia who live in our nation's nursing homes," Kohl said.  "As these experts told us, and as the HHS OIG report confirms, Alzheimer's patients who do not have a diagnosis of psychosis can be seriously harmed by this class of drugs. CMS must find ways to encourage the medical community to use appropriate non-pharmacological treatments for these patients, who deserve to lead dignified lives."

Grassley and Kohl commented on a report issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.  The report titled, "Medicare Atypical Antipsychotic Drug Claims for Elderly Nursing Home Residents," was requested by Grassley in December 2007.

The Inspector General found that 88 percent of the powerful antipsychotic drugs being prescribed to nursing home residents with dementia were for uses that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, even though the drug labels contain "black box warnings" of an increased risk of death in elderly patients with dementia. The report also shows that 22 percent of the nursing homes failed to meet federal standards on unnecessary drug use in nursing homes. Further, more than half of the claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs were improperly paid.

Grassley and Kohl wrote to the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seeking a description of the agency's actions to protect nursing home residents from unnecessary off-label antipsychotic prescriptions and to protect the taxpayers from improper payments for these drugs.  The text of their letter is available here.  The text of the report is available here.

Grassley and Kohl have long worked together to safeguard nursing home residents and more broadly, to inject transparency into the financial relationships between drug makers and doctors.  Last year, their Physician Payments Sunshine Act became law and will require, beginning in 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services to post on a public website newly reported payments that drug, device and biologic makers make to physicians.

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Kahl Home to Build New 135-Bed Skilled Nursing Home

Davenport, IA - A ground-blessing ceremony will be held this week to commemorate the early stages of construction on the new Kahl Home senior living facility, located at 6701 Jersey Ridge Road, Davenport, IA on Thursday, May 12 at 1:00 p.m. Participating in the ceremony will be Bishop Martin Amos, Bishop of the Davenport Diocese and Mother M. Mark Louis Anne Randall, O.Carm., Superior General of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, Germantown, NY, that sponsors the Kahl Home for the Aged and Infirm. Press is invited to attend.

The Kahl Home will be a new 138,000 square foot multi-story nursing facility located on a 40 acre site. The building will contain a total of 135 licensed nursing home beds in six nursing units of 22-23 beds each. Each nursing unit will have its own dining area and home-like resident common space. The building will contain a spacious atrium area with a café, pub, and gift shop, in addition to administrative areas, kitchen, physical plant, support services, chapel and a convent. Construction of the new $28,000,000 facility started in October 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by May 2012.

This is Phase One of a long range planned continuing care retirement campus. The current project is the skilled nursing facility, including a dedicated Medicare wing for short term rehabilitation, chapel and convent. Placed throughout the project will be several formal open spaces, such as gardens, plazas, and courtyards. Informal open spaces will occur throughout this site in addition to walking trails, lawns and water features.

Established in 1955, the original Kahl Home housed 21 female residents. As a waiting list for the facility grew, it was immediately apparent that additional space was needed to accommodate those seeking admittance. Additions to the Kahl Home were constructed in 1963 and again in 1987 bringing the total licensed bed capacity to 135 residents. The entire existing facility will be replaced by the new project with the planned disposition of the existing facility.

The Kahl Home's motto, "The Difference is Love" is strongly rooted in their mission, vision and values for the organization. The Carmelite Sisters and the staff of the Kahl Home are committed to providing services that meet all of the physical, spiritual, recreational, and psychosocial needs of the individual residents. The Kahl Home provides widespread services to its residents including 24-hour nursing care, long-term and short-term rehabilitation care, Alzheimer and Dementia care, hospice care, speech therapies, psychosocial counseling, adaptive computer labs, and daily Mass. Each team member works together with residents and their families to identify and meet each person's individual needs, and do so by upholding the resident's dignity and encouraging their independence. For more information on the Kahl Home, please visit their website at www.kahlhomedav.com.

This ground blessing also marks the beginning of a $5 million area-wide capital campaign. Some early commitments have been secured, including an anonymous gift of $1 million. Rosalie Thomas, Administrator of Kahl Home states "We are deeply grateful for the $1 million lead gift and for the gifts of those other early donors that have stepped forward. We believe others will respond generously in recognition of the commitment of the Carmelite Sisters and the high quality of care provided by the Kahl Home over the past 55 years. We are completing the enlistment of our campaign leaders and will announce the team in the very near future."

Russell Construction, located in Davenport, IA, is serving as the Construction Manager on this project. THW Design, located in Atlanta, GA is serving as the Architect. For more information on Russell Construction, please visit their website at www.russellco.com.

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