Wisconsin’s long-term care crisis: Staffing troubles, low Medicaid rates prompt closures
Barbara Hendricks needs at least 10 residents to pay out of pocket for her 22-bed assisted living facility in Horicon, Wisconsin, to survive.
That’s because the other residents in the Dodge County home, Marvin’s Manor, rely solely on Medicaid, which Hendricks said pays her a little more than half the private-pay rate she charges — far below the cost of paying her workers.
“We will just make it,” Hendricks said.
Squeezing by required Hendricks to close the other assisted living facility she ran in Waupun. The decision to close by August left the city with no assisted living providers for seniors who rely on government funding after exhausting their savings. The facility sits empty after the closure forced 12 residents to find new homes, an increasingly difficult task for seniors already on Medicaid, the joint state and federal aid program to help low-income residents afford care.
Read the full story from Wisconsin Public Radio here.
