Opinion: Long-term care in the U.S. threatened by the immigration crackdown and Medicaid cuts

Long-term care in the U.S. faces two existential threats: an immigration crackdown and Medicaid cuts The combined impacts of an immigration crackdown and slashing Medicaid budgets could create an exodus of long-term care workers. Torie Bosch STAT

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The first threat is the ongoing immigration crackdown. Immigrants comprise 28% of the entire long-term care workforce along with one in three home care workers, providing vital frontline care to older adults and people with disabilities. Recent estimates suggest that 15% of immigrant workers at home care agencies are undocumented; however, even lawful permanent residents have been caught up in recent deportation efforts. ...

The trouble doesn’t stop there. Medicaid, the nation’s largest funder of long-term care, could soon see the largest cuts in its 60-year history. Republicans in Congress are seeking $880 billion in Medicaid cuts to finance the president’s domestic agenda, a terrifying prospect for the nearly 6 million people who rely on Medicaid for long-term care. The House bill that passed on May 22, for example, would eliminate critical options that states use to finance their share of Medicaid costs.

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