Macon Senior Citizens and Caregivers Sign Petition to Protect Funding for Long Term Care

The National Coalition to Protect Senior Care is in Macon, with a 10 foot long petition, asking Georgia’s Congress to protect Medicare and Medicaid funding for nursing home care.

Residents and workers at The Oakes at Peake put their names on the paper today, hoping to convince members of Congress to stop reducing funding to Medicaid and Medicare programs.

Lisa Cantrell is the president of the National Association of Health Care Assistants. She says last year alone, Medicare funding for long term care was cut by nearly $30 billion.

“We wanted to bring awareness to these cuts, and urge members of Congress in Georgia, that skilled nursing care for the elderly needs to be preserved and protected,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell says, cutting funding will also result in jobs being lost. If a facility loses its federal funding, it will not be able to support its work staff.

The Coalition to Protect Senior Care is targeting rural caregiver communities around the country, asking each state’s Congress to help continue funding the programs.