1. Please join us at our next statewide meeting on March 19, 2005– We will meet from 10:30 - 2:30 in the Lake Superior Room, Library of Michigan, 717 West Allegan, Lansing. If you plan to attend, please call Alison Hirschel at 517-324-5754 or email her at hirschel@umich.edu by March 17. (And please plan to join us next time on June 18 at the same time and place!)

2. Campaign members have a successful day at the Capitol meeting legislators– On February 16, nine Campaign members visited virtually every legislator’s office and gave them information about the Campaign, the urgent need to preserve Medicaid funding, and our legislative platform. We also joined legislators and their staff at a reception hosted by the Area Agency on Aging Association (AAAA). We had many good conversations with legislators and Campaign member Linda Phillips even persuaded Rep. Steve Bieda (D-Macomb Co.) to introduce legislation to improve fire safety in nursing homes. Special thanks go to AARP/Michigan staff who compiled all the legislative packets we delivered and mailed additional material to each legislator for us, to AAAA for inviting us to join their reception, and to all the Campaign members who pounded the halls of the Capitol that day!   

3. Campaign fights to preserve Medicaid long term care funding and resident rights currently guaranteed by federal Medicaid law – This year, tight budgets mean Medicaid is under attack at both the state and federal level. President Bush has proposed eliminating millions of dollars from the Medicaid budget and might permit states to weaken protections for nursing home residents. In Michigan, Governor Granholm has pledged to protect the most vulnerable, but is proposing a 4% cut in nursing home reimbursement. Some members of the state legislature have called for far more substantial and draconian cuts. We need your help to save Medicaid!! Here is what you need to know:

É Medicaid pays for two thirds of all nursing home residents and funds the Home Help and MiChoice programs. Cuts to Medicaid could threaten long term care recipients’ eligibility, jeopardize the quality of care they receive, and destroy their safety net.

É Medicaid law provides for federal nursing home standards and inspection requirements, resident rights, protection of the assets of spouses so that one spouse is not impoverished when the other spouse enters a nursing home, and prohibitions on states making families pay for a loved one’s care. Federal proposals to give states more "flexibility" could eliminate some of these important protections.

É More than half of all Medicaid nursing home residents are considered optional beneficiaries because their income is more than $579/month. The Bush Administration has proposed saving money by providing less comprehensive services to optional beneficiaries, but these "optional" residents would not be able to pay for nursing home care without Medicaid.

É In addition to long term care, Medicaid pays for very low income children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and the elderly who would not have health care without it.

É Medicaid is a boost to Michigan’s economy. Because Medicaid spending has an economic multiplier effect, each $1 million that Michigan invests in Medicaid results in $2.6 million in new business activity and 25 new jobs.

É Medicaid contributes substantially to the income of nursing homes, hospitals and health care centers across the state. Any cut in Medicaid spending will have a profound effect on the economic viability of the health care industry.

É Michigan’s Medicaid program is already very frugal and cost-effective. Last year, its cost increased only 1.5%, far less than the state employees’ and retirees’ health plans or the health plans of the major auto companies. Many painful cuts have already been made to the Medicaid program in recent years and there is no fat left to cut.

É Call, email or write to your state legislators that you oppose cuts to Medicaid and that Medicaid funding is essential to long term care recipients.

É Call, email, or write to the Governor to thank her for trying to preserve Medicaid funding for long term care recipients and tell her not to give in to pressure to cut Medicaid further. You can contact her at P.O. Box 30013, Lansing, Michigan 48909;

(517) 373-3400 or email her at www.michigan.gov/gov/ and click on "Contact the Governor on the right side of the web page.

É Call, email or write to your U.S. representative and to U.S. Senators Stabenow and Levin to tell them to oppose cuts to Medicaid or any weakening of laws that protect nursing home residents. You can contact Senator Levin at 269 Russell Office Building, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC 20510-2202; (202) 224-6221; or go to his website at http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm. You can contact Senator Stabenow at 133 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510; (202) 224-4822; or email her at senator@stabenow.senate.gov. You can find out who your U.S. representative is and how to contact him or her at www.house.gov

É Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about how important Medicaid is to nursing home residents and other long term care recipients.

If you need help determining who your representatives are or how to reach them, you can email Alison Hirschel at hirschel@umich.edu or call her at (517) 324-5754.

Special thanks to Mary Le Piors for her generous donation of stamps and to C. Mark Stoppels for his generous donation in memory of Charles J. and Iris M. Stoppels.