(Radio Iowa) – House Speaker Pat Grassley says Republicans in the House plan to increase the rate Iowa nursing homes are paid to care for residents enrolled in Medicaid.

The Medicaid program pays for the care of over half of Iowa nursing home residents. Grassley says the current reimbursement rate was set before COVID hit, based on nursing home costs in 2018. Since then, nursing homes have been dealing with inflation and paying higher wages to try to keep and attract workers. Seventeen nursing homes closed last year due to financial strain and advocates warn more closures will happen if the Medicaid reimbursement rate doesn’t rise.

“We recognize that there is that need,” Grassley told reporters during a news conference on the House floor.

According to the Iowa Health Care Association, the daily rate Iowa Medicaid pays is covering just 80% of the costs of providing nursing home care.

“I don’t know if we can fix it in one year as it was created over a couple year period, this gap that now exists again, but that’s why we went higher with our budget target.” Grassley said.

House Republicans have a handful of state spending priorities like this one that put their overall state spending plan about $50 million above the target amount Governor Reynolds recommended in January. Republicans in the Senate have signaled they’re building a budget with a bottom line number of about $8.5 billion — identical to the governor’s budget plan.

Governor Reynolds is recommending the state spend $15 million on the Medicaid reimbursement rate for nursing homes. Grassley says Republicans in the House have not yet decided on an amount.