I found your recent coverage of the Liberty Shores Assisted Living Retirement Community to be woefully inadequate in terms of giving your readers an accurate picture of why the facility made the decision to cancel its Medicaid contract.

The care of Medicaid eligible residents has long been a partnership between the individual, the state and the federal government.

Rather than face up to the problem of inadequate rates for Medicaid residents, the legislature passed ESHB 6807, legislation to force providers to keep serving Medicaid residents even though it meant higher costs for all other residents and the possible closure of some facilities. This legislation was largely a reaction to the well-publicized decision of one company to

The legislation created a real dilemma for Medicaid-contracting providers who might decide to leave the program. Doing so after the legislation became law would mean that providers like Liberty Shores would no longer have control over the Medicaid caseload in their buildings. If Liberty Shores had waited to notify the state that they were eliminating the Medicaid contract until after the Governor signed 6807, they would have no control over the Medicaid caseload – and private-pay residents would once again have to pick up those costs not covered by the state.

The decision by Liberty Shores to exit the Medicaid program prior to emergency enactment of the ESSB 6807 was not simply a “bottom line” financial decision, it was a conservative and careful approach to an impending problem

We each have a stake in this discussion. At some point, we will all be touched by the need for long term care services, whether for ourselves, our family members or friends.

Gary Weeks,

Executive director

Washington Health Care Association (WHCA)