Mass Senior Care Association has been working tirelessly over the last several months to secure much needed funding for Massachusetts nursing facilities. We are pleased to share that the House of Representatives is finalizing action on its proposed $165 million in vital nursing home workforce investments as part of its $3.8 billion Economic Development bill. The funding would be executed through Medicaid COVID-19 supplemental payments.
This funding is critical to ensure that nursing facilities can continue to make important investments in resident care and our workforce. This proposed new funding would be in addition to the over $1 billion invested by the state for general Medicaid rates and previous supplemental payments to help nursing facilities address the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Economic Development bill is being debated this week by the House and then will move to the Senate where we will continue our aggressive advocacy efforts to ensure passage of the $165 million House investment for resident care and workforce investments, as well as working to ensure appropriate funding through the FY23 budget which is being finalized now.
Mass Senior Care extends its thanks to Speaker Ronald Mariano, Chairman Aaron Michlewitz and the House of Representatives for recognizing the need to invest in the long term care workforce.
The House economic bill also includes other important sections including the Taxpayer Energy and Economic Relief Fund, an initiative to bring immediate financial relief to Bay Staters amidst rising gas prices and inflation. It would send one-time rebates of $250 this fall to an estimated two million taxpayers. The fund will provide one-time rebates of $250 for Massachusetts taxpayers who filed an individual return in 2021, and $500 for taxpayers who filed joint returns. Eligibility will be determined by annual income reported in 2021. Individual filers who reported earning between $38,000 and $100,000 will be eligible, and the maximum reported income level increases to $150,000 for joint filers. Massachusetts taxpayers will receive this rebate before September 30, 2022. Earlier this year, approximately 1 million low-income workers received $500 payments under the COVID-19 Essential Employee Premium Pay program, which was passed by the Massachusetts Legislature and signed by Governor Baker in December 2021 as part of a $4 billion spending plan for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
And Chairman Tom Stanley has filed Amendment 151, Portable Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments (POLST), in the Economic Development bill H.5007 to modernize the Commonwealth’s program for end-of-life care medical orders. This amendment would use the POLST electronic registry to secure timely, trusted access to critical health care planning documents to ensure that treatment preferences of individuals living with serious illness and advancing frailty are known and end-of-life decisions are honored.