They want to save a few pennies by making it harder for old people
to go into nursing homes:
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He and Mark B. McClellan -- head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the federal component of both programs -- implied that the administration hopes to drastically loosen the requirement that states provide long-term care in nursing homes. Keeping the elderly out of nursing homes should result in better health and lower costs, they said.
Currently, states must secure a waiver from McClellan's agency to shift elderly patients to home- or community-based care. Changing that would require action by Congress.
