VALA opposes HB2054 as Virginia does not have a Medicaid waiver program for assisted living, and the Auxiliary Grant program is significantly underfunded by the Commonwealth. The current approved rate of the Auxiliary Grant is $2,079 for most of Virginia; whereas, the average cost of assisted living care in Virginia is $6,050 according to Genworth Long-Term Care Insurance. VALA agrees that Virginia needs to do more to help assisted living communities to be able to provide affordable options, but without fixing the AG program or providing an appropriate Medicaid waiver, HB2054 does not provide the appropriate method to do so. Requiring an assisted living facility to accept residents at a rate below the average cost of care and without an appropriately funded subsidy program by the Commonwealth is an unfair mandate on an already strained industry. Virginia would never go to Ruth’s Chris and require them to serve a steak meal for $10, so we cannot support requiring a service provider to do so either. Therefore, VALA opposes HB2054.

LeadingAge Virginia supports HB 2054.

LeadingAge Virginia supports HB 2054.