An effort to boost the staffing in nursing homes is among the lesser-known casualties of the recently approved budget and spending law, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). The new law has several provisions that are likely to affect the staffing, affordability and demand for nursing homes.
The law also changes the length of time that Medicaid will cover new beneficiaries retroactively. Until now, once approved, Medicaid would pay for up to three months of retroactive care to make up for the time it took to get approval. “Now it will be two months. The delay will mean that some individuals will be responsible for paying out of pocket for a longer period of time, or delayed in getting accepted to Medicaid for longer,” Smetanka says.
At the same time, the law halts for ten years rules aimed at streamlining Medicaid eligibility and enrollment, according to the advocacy group, Justice in Aging. “This will make it harder for older adults to get and maintain Medicaid coverage by allowing states to maintain bureaucratic requirements, such as complex income verification paperwork and frequent renewals that currently prevent eligible people from gaining and maintaining coverage.”
