Oklahoma Nursing Homes Can't Afford Liability Insurance

Nursing facilities that carry no liability insurance are gambling. But most of them have no choice but to roll the dice. Available funds pay for resident care, staffing and administrative costs.

In Oklahoma, there are 56 uninsured elder homes with 6,621 beds, according to the Oklahoma Center for Consumer & Patient Safety (OCCPS) in Tulsa, according to NewsOK.com.

”Over 20 percent of beds in Oklahoma are in nursing homes that refuse to carry insurance," said Hugh Robert, executive director of OCPPS. "The number is likely a lot higher."

OCPPS wants legislation which would require all nursing homes to carry liability insurance or at least to provide proof of assets in case of a lawsuit.

But the Oklahoma Association of Healthcare Providers (OAHP) sees it much differently. "Under funding from Medicaid and Medicare has forced many nursing home owners to make a choice -- either pay for liability insurance or pay for taking care of residents," said Becky Moore, executive director of OAHP. “Unless the government wants to increase Medicaid payments to homes to cover insurance costs, it should not mandate insurance coverage,"she said.

She agreed many homes in Oklahoma lack legal protection from the threat of lawsuits but said administrators have no choice. Moore said the number of insured homes increased when an insurance group which covered nine out of 10 homes in the state went bankrupt three years ago.

"Premium rates have increased five times what they were five years ago," Moore said, adding that insurance policies have huge deductibles for their coverage.

http://newsok.com/article/3217720/1205868148