I have yet to meet anyone who yearns to someday reside in a nursing home. In today's youth-oriented world, longevity is pushing middle-age past the half-century mark and people are working harder than ever before to look and feel young.
But sooner or later, Mother Nature takes its toll. Aging is a fact of life. And for some of us, age-related health conditions and illnesses may require around-the-clock attention. More than 1.6 million residents in America live in nursing homes and depend on others to provide the most basic levels of care. Are they getting the care they deserve? A new federal report suggests that more than half of the nursing homes in the United States may put their residents at risk because of staff shortages.
Horror stories of malnutrition, dehydration and bone-deep bedsores in our nation's nursing homes turn the stomach and hurt the conscience. In some cases, even the most basic personal hygiene of a frail elderly resident falls victim to substandard care. After 10 years in the making, the federal government finally has a well-documented analysis of the situation. Nursing home staff shortages are at the root of the problem. A nurses aide is a nursing home resident's lifeline. Yet, the least trained and the lowest paid of all nursing home staff do the heavy lifting at a nursing home. For less than 7 dollars an hour, nurses aides feed, bathe, and turn frail residents to prevent bedsores. And sometimes they may have 15 to 30 patients per shift.
Nursing home administrators say they need more funding to provide adequate care for an aging American population. And as older people are able to stay at home longer and choose assisted living facilities, those who need the level of care that only a nursing home can provide are often society's most frail and dependent.
Despite the shortfalls indicated by this federal report, I'm not ready to give the nursing home industry a blank check. I've learned from the Department of Defense that simply throwing more money at a problem doesn't solve it. Taxpayers foot the lion's share of nursing home costs, shouldering $39 billion annually. That's an awful lot of money. I've asked the federal government's official financial watchdog to track the money trail. If the industry wants Congress to show them the money, I want it to show us where it goes. I want a guarantee that more funding will go towards improving patient care and addressing staff shortages and turn-over.
As chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, I'll continue to shine the spotlight on the conditions in the nation's nursing homes. Those who work tirelessly to care for some of the country's most vulnerable citizens deserve better recognition for their service. The residents deserve adequate, humane care. And hard-working American taxpayers deserve to know their money is being well spent.