BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Nursing-home workers are urging lawmakers in Olympia not to make funding cuts to their facilities.

Funding for Washington state nursing homes has fallen short by more than $100 million, according to the state Department of Social and Health Services. Inside nursing homes, the lack of funds is apparent to workers.

Sherylon Hughes, a certified nurse's aide at a facility in Bellingham and an executive board member of Service Employees International Union Local 775, said they need more cash, not less.

"My employers and the other operators of these homes are in dire straits right now," Hughes asserted. "I fear that my building may close. I worry about other buildings closing, and I feel that's what's on the horizon if we don't get some better funding in Washington state."

Because of the pandemic, state lawmakers have asked the Department of Social and Health Services to consider what cuts might look like, including more than $200 million dollars from the Aging and Long-Term Support Administration.

Nursing homes have been an epicenter for the coronavirus.

Hughes contended cuts would be disastrous for workers and nursing-home residents.

She noted people who live there are already struggling without social activities and family visits. Some are succumbing to what's known as "failure to thrive," refusing to eat or take medication, because they feel hopeless.

"I'm in communication with a lot of different people, caregivers and therapists in other facilities, and they're seeing the same thing," Hughes observed. "We're all trying our best, but it's possible for the loneliness to get to you."

Hughes believes her facility has been spared the worst of COVID-19, in part because workers are unionized and have made their voices heard.

Still, many quit at the start of the pandemic rather than risk getting the virus or spreading it to their families.

She described "a sense of impending doom" for the past year.

"Every day, you're wondering, are you going to show up [and] are you going to be short-staffed because somebody is sick?" Hughes explained. "Are you going to get the news that there's an outbreak in your facility? So, you know, trying to get used to that high level of stress has been difficult."


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As the cost of food, medicine and rent continues to climb, new data shows the benefits miners receive are now 40% less than what they received in 1969, when adjusted for inflation.

Vonda Robinson, Vice President of the National Black Lung Association, said she is grateful for the benefits her husband receives, but points out the high cost of gas and grocery bills are a constant challenge.

"My husband worked in the coal mines for 30 years." Robinson said. "He had to come out of the coal mines when he was 47 years old due to complications with his breathing. We had no idea he had black lung."

According to a report from the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, the black lung benefit rate for a miner with no dependents is now $738 a month, while the current cost of living in Kentucky and other coal states is around three-and-a-half times that amount.

Chelsea Barnes, director of government affairs and strategy with Appalachian Voices, said the federal government could move to untangle miner benefits from the federal pay scale and instead tie them to inflation.

"This isn't a change that will break the bank," Barnes said. "Instead, it will ensure that coal miners and their families have the basic safety net they deserve to survive. "

According to the Department of Labor in 2018, the average yearly cost
for medical treatment was slightly under $10,000 per miner.


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Nurses are concerned about the closure of a Portland-area birth center set to go through today.

The Family Birth Center at Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center is closing because the hospital says "it maintains a low volume of births with an unusually high-cost care model."

Nurses in the facility were in the process of unionizing. Labor and Delivery Registered Nurse Alejandrina Felipe works in the center and said it provided a valuable 24-hour service to an underserved area east of Portland.

"Any emergencies, or if a patient has a headache, they're worried for high blood pressure, they don't feel the baby move," said Felipe, "the first thing their OB provider tells them is go to the nearest emergency department. And they come to Mount Hood because we're here."

Felipe said nurses were offered the chance for a job in another part of the hospital, but she is taking severance. The center delivered more than 750 babies a year.

The Oregon Health Authority hasn't yet approved the closure and said in a statement this week that the hospital could be subject to regulatory action if the center closes its doors.

Felipe said the birth center's closure leaves a gap for a diverse group of patients.

"More than 50% of our patients are Latinos, Russian, Middle Eastern or a lot of the Asian Pacific Islander, API," said Felipe.

Felipe said nurses wanted to unionize because they felt management at Legacy was making decisions without input from them.

"We're working towards becoming a union," said Felipe. "If we were union, we would not be going through this."


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President Joe Biden's proposal to increase taxes on Americans earning more than $400,000 a year from 3.8% to 5% in order to shore up Medicare is being welcomed by an unlikely constituency, the ultrarich.

Morris Pearl, chair of the group Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, said there is more than enough money to fund Medicare. He argued the wealthiest Americans, especially those living off of their investments, can and should be paying more.

"Our country can go two different directions," Pearl asserted. "We can ask the financially challenged people who need Medicare to sacrifice more by having less medical care, or we can ask the ultrarich to sacrifice more, by being a little bit less ultrarich."

Biden's proposal would keep Medicare solvent for at least the next 25 years, according to estimates by the Medicare Office of the Chief Actuary. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Minority Leader, has dismissed the proposal and promised it will not advance in Congress. Critics said raising taxes would hurt the economy, which depends on consumer activity. They argued people would spend less if their earnings drop.

Pearl agreed the economy depends on consumer spending, and stressed working Americans who spend most of what they bring home should be allowed to keep more of their money.

"The very rich people are not going to spend more money; they'll just become a little bit richer," Pearl contended. "Somebody like me, if my tax rates are cut, I'm not going to live any differently. I'll just see the balances in my portfolio be a little bit higher than they would otherwise."

More than 65 million people in Colorado and across the U.S. depend on Medicare coverage, but the fund's trustees warn cuts to benefits will be necessary by 2028 without increased revenues. Pearl noted the nation's economy was strong under the Republican Eisenhower administration, when the wealthiest Americans paid tax rates up to 90% on their second, third and fourth millions.

"And there's no reason why people who make a lot of money now should be paying -- not the same tax rate as people who work for a living -- but actually lower tax rates than people that work," Pearl emphasized. "We need to change the system."


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