Man in Medicaid dispute moves to new assisted-living facility

John “Jack” Rush, the developmentally disabled man facing eviction from Blossom House assisted living center in Yakima, has moved into The Ponderosa, another facility across town, his family said Monday.

The Ponderosa has accepted Jack Rush, 55, as a Medicaid resident, his brother, Joe, said. “It all worked out very well,” he said.

The Rush siblings were faced with finding another home for their brother after Blossom House’s parent corporation, Assisted Living Concepts (ALC) of Milwaukee, began cutting back on its Medicaid-eligible beds earlier this year, saying the reimbursement rates didn’t cover costs.

The case went to court but a Yakima County Superior Court judge urged the two parties last month to resolve the dispute.

In 2000, when Rush moved into Blossom House with his mother, it accepted Medicare. After his mother died in 2005, Rush paid the full monthly fee from his inheritance. When that ran out two years ago, his siblings paid for his care. But they exhausted their inheritances, which led them to apply for Medicaid on behalf of their brother.

Blossom House is no longer accepting Medicaid residents. ALC says the $2,000 monthly Medicaid reimbursement falls short of expenses.

Rush’s dilemma, first reported in the Yakima Herald-Republic in June, illustrates a national problem that finds assisted-living centers cutting back on Medicaid tenants in favor of private clients who pay more.

In Washington state, reimbursement rates rose just under one percent last year. Medicaid is state and federally funded. Eligibility and reimbursement rates vary from state to state.