President Joe Biden recently announced that all nursing home employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19. Failure to comply could result in nursing facilities losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.
This vaccine mandate will exacerbate the shortage of nursing home workers, lead to the shutting down of many long-term care facilities and have severe adverse effects on America’s frail and elderly citizens.
The United States has an aging population. As baby boomers age, demand for health care services for seniors, including long-term care, is expected to grow.
Also, an increase in life expectancy over time means that there will be more seniors relying on the American health care system in the years to come. Therefore, a robust health care workforce is essential to meet the rising demand for services for America’s seniors.
For years, policy experts have discussed various aspects of the health care workforce. Even before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, there were concerns regarding the shortage of health care professionals such as doctors and nurses in the United States.
In the long-term care sector, the workforce shortage is much more significant. The coronavirus pandemic has intensified this shortage.
In the United States, people have the right to make their own decisions about their health care. Nursing home employees must not be forced to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
At a time when nursing homes are facing staffing challenges, President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate will add to the problem. When compelled to choose between personal freedom and their jobs, many nursing home employees may resign from their positions because they do not wish to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
In Wisconsin, nursing homes have been suffering from worker shortages for years. A 2018 study revealed there were 16,500 vacant caregiver positions in long-term and residential facilities in the state. By 2020, the number had increased to 20,655.
Biden’s vaccine mandate will deepen the pre-existing workforce challenges, turn the situation into a full-fledged crisis and crush nursing homes’ ability to hire workers to care for their residents.
To advance his administration’s agenda of vaccinating all Americans by snatching away people’s freedom to choose, Joe Biden is using taxpayer-funded programs as a threatening tool.
Medicaid, a public health insurance program for low-income individuals, is the primary payer for long-term care services in America. Medicare, too, is paid for by hard-working Americans. If facilities lose Medicaid and Medicare funding for failure to comply with Biden’s vaccine mandate, then the real victims would be elderly nursing home residents.
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