Letter to Speaker Pelosi, Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell, and Leader Schumer - Representatives Rice, Meeks, Meng Urge House and Senate Leadership to Provide Additional Relief for Nursing Homes

Letter

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Leader McCarthy, and Leader Schumer:

We write to bring your attention to the dire situation in nursing homes and long-term care (LTC) facilities in New York and around the country, and we ask that you support these facilities, their residents, and their employees in the next coronavirus response package.

With over 1.2 million cases and 70,000 deaths to date in the United States, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has spared no community. Nursing homes and other long-term care providers, however, have been particularly devastated by this crisis, and the available data, which experts say almost certainly understates reality, reveals the crisis in these facilities: at least 16,000 LTC residents and staff have died and tens of thousands more have contracted the virus. In our home state of New York, LTC residents and staff account for more than a quarter of counted deaths.

We thank you for your leadership in providing relief to LTC providers in recovery packages, through advance Medicare payments, boosted Medicaid rates, and assistance with infection control and spread mitigation efforts, but these facilities still face staffing shortages and are struggling to obtain the personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing supplies needed to properly protect their residents and workers. As negotiations continue on the next coronavirus response package, we encourage you to support nursing homes and LTCs and include provisions to help these facilities retain and appropriately compensate staff, acquire necessary PPE, increase testing capacity, and prevent further spread of the virus.

Thank you for your attention to this critical request.

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