An initiative to increase funding for nursing homes in Massachusetts is one step — and nearly 90,000 backers — closer to being on the 2020 ballot.
The Massachusetts Senior Coalition announced that it submitted 87,000 signatures of locally-certified voters in support of the ballot initiative to the Secretary of State’s Office, the Salem News reported.
The initiative aims to increase funding rates paid by the state government to nursing facilities.
The deadline to submit signatures for ballot questions was Wednesday. The proposal needed about 80,200 signatures to stay alive. The signatures now needs clearance from the state office before moving forward.
An analysis found that 25% of nursing homes in Massachusetts are at risk of closing and cited Medicaid underfunding as a key contributor to the financial instability of the state’s nursing home sector.
The findings were presented during the Massachusetts Senior Care Association’s annual meeting in November.
“In order to protect this state safety net service, we need to continue to build upon recent state investments in quality nursing home care and promote quality jobs in our nursing facilities,” Tara Gregorio, Massachusetts Senior Care Association president, said in response to the report.
