(C) Center for Economic and Policy Research
This unaltered story was originally published on CEPR.NET
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Biden will lay out new nursing home protections in his State of the Union speech. [1]

['Sheryl Gay Stolberg']

Date: 2022-03-01 00:00:00

President Biden will use his State of the Union address Tuesday night in part to announce steps to protect nursing home residents and hold providers accountable for unsafe and substandard care, including by expanding inspections and financial penalties on what the White House is calling “bad actor nursing homes” and “poor-performing facilities.”

More than 1.4 million people in the United States live in more than 15,500 nursing homes, which receive reimbursement with tax dollars through two federal programs: Medicare and Medicaid. The pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the dangers of living in nursing homes, and also the challenges they face.

Nursing homes are caring for some of the nation’s most vulnerable people: older and disabled adults, often with chronic underlying conditions. Like all congregate living facilities, they are places where viruses spread easily. According to the White House, nursing home residents and staff members account for some 200,000 of the nearly 950,000 deaths in the United States from Covid-19.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Monday that Mr. Biden would unveil “new steps to protect seniors and other nursing home residents by cracking down on unsafe nursing homes.” The White House detailed the new initiatives in a fact sheet posted on Monday on its website.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com:443/live/2022/03/01/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine/biden-will-lay-out-new-nursing-home-protections-in-his-state-of-the-union-speech

(C) Center for Economic and Policy Research, cepr.net
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