Rates to double at veterans home

Monday, March 8, 2004 | 10:58 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Veterans Home in Boulder City is going to double its rates from $1,500 a month to $3,000, effective April 9.

But Chuck Fulkerson, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services, said today residents would not be asked to move if they can't afford the increase.

"We're not throwing anybody out," he said.

Families upset with the proposed rate increase met with state officials Saturday in Clark County and expressed a "lot of concern," Fulkerson said. But he said the complaints have eased since the meeting.

The home currently holds 115 veterans and has a waiting list of 105. The third and final 60-bed wing is scheduled to open in July.

The current rate of $50 per day, or $1,500 a month, has been in effect since the home opened in August 2002. It covers less than one-fourth of the home's expenses.

Under the current system, Fulkerson said the state covers the cost of providing care over and above what the resident and the Department of Veterans Affairs pay, regardless of the person's finances. The present average cost per resident is $242 per patient.

For patients who do not have other help, such as Medicare, the state picks up $136 a day of the cost.

Fulkerson said the budget originally estimated that 33 percent of the residents would not have other help. However 75 percent of those in the home are in that position.

He said the VA, Medicaid and Clark County Social Services might be able to help those who cannot afford the increase.

The new rate of $3,000 a month is 36.4 percent below the average nursing home rate in the Las Vegas area, he said.