Woodland

The governor has proposed and the Democratic leaders of the Legislature have so far endorsed the taxation of occupied nursing home beds in not-for-profit residential retirement communities known as multi-level retirement communities.

The tax would be $11.16 per occupied bed per day, which amounts to $334.80 per month or more than $4,000 per year per bed. The average cost of this tax to Stollwood Convalescent Hospital in Woodland is $192,720 per year. Who will pay for that tax? Private-pay residents.

More than 78 percent of all convalescent hospital beds are paid for by Medicare and Medi-Cal, government funds that would not pay this tax. Thus, approximately 20 percent of CaliforniaÕs nursing home residents, people who pay privately out-of-pocket for their nursing home care, will be required to pay the tax for both themselves and the Medicare/Medi-Cal patients.

This taxing scheme does not consider the taxpayerÕs ability to pay the tax or the consequences for private-pay residents when they out-live their retirement savings and become Medi-Cal-funded Ñ an even greater burden on the California government.

Politicians donÕt call this a tax, they call it a quality assurance fee! What is it assuring? That the California state budget will be balanced, nothing more. These funds will go into the general fund coffers and will not be spent in any way on convalescent hospitals.

This tax is blatantly unfair. Just because someone lives in a residential retirement community classified as a multi-level retirement community, they should not be taxed any differently than any other senior living in a different environment. Nor should the tax carelessly contribute to uncontrolled spending and be of no benefit to seniors in need of convalescent care.

Residents and families have sent thousands of letters to Assembly members and senators beseeching their representatives not to implement this tax. So far, their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

We need the communityÕs help to influence politicians. I respectfully urge everyone to write their legislators asking them to kill this tax, also known as a quality assurance fee. For more information about this unfair tax, go to http://aginservices.org and click on ÒAging Services Provider Tax Resources.Ó

John Pritchard

Executive director, St. JohnÕs Retirement Village, Woodland

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