Senate’ s 2006 budget repeals nursing home bed tax

OLYMPIA – The supplemental budget passed today by the Senate would repeal a daily tax to nursing home patients, effective July 1, 2007.

“It’s the best we could get, but it’s still not soon enough to suit me,” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, who sponsored the bill to eliminate the tax. “Taxing elderly, bed-ridden patients is the worst idea I’ve ever seen in all my years in the Legislature.”

The budget passed the Senate on a 26-19 vote but must be reconciled with the House of Representatives’ budget for the repeal to become law.

Deb Murphy, executive director of the Washington Association of Housing and Services for the Aging, said she was encouraged to see Haugen’s stance supported by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, and Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton.

“I think with those three in our corner, it bodes well for success in the House, but I’m not counting it done until it’s done,” Murphy said.

The tax adds about $150 a month to the cost of a bed and is covered by Medicaid and by Medicare. However, patients not on Medicaid or Medicare must pay the tax directly. The tax was levied in 2003 at $6.50 per day and was later scheduled for a gradual phase-out by July 1, 2011. The tax is now $5.25 per day.

This marks Haugen’s second effort in as many years to eliminate the tax.

“Sen. Haugen has been a very committed and passionate supporter of repealing the bed tax,” Murphy said. “Last session she made great progress and great momentum to getting it sunsetted, with gradual reductions over each biennium.

“She made a commitment last year that that wasn’t good enough for her and she would seek its repeal when the economy of the state improved, and she did. We’re very, very grateful for her tireless work on behalf of middle-income seniors in this state.”

The passage sparked optimism in others as well.

“I just hope that it happens,” said Monica Mattson, administrator of the Josephine Sunset Home in Stanwood. “Like Mary Margaret, I think it’s too bad it’s not July 1 of this year. But getting it off the books will be a very good thing.”

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