CMS (Medicare/Medicaid) is considering a rule change barring mandatory arbitration agreements in nursing home contracts, and has asked for public comment. The time to comment ends September 14. For those who do not know, as it stands today, when you admit a loved-one into a nursing home, hidden among all the paperwork is a document that says no matter how poorly the nursing home treats your loved one, nor how much your loved-one may suffer, you cannot sue the nursing home in a Court of Law. You must use an arbitrator the nursing home has chosen and pays a lot of money to, and you must use the rules the nursing home has handpicked and not the laws of your state. Also, you must keep the proceeding confidential and not tell anyone if you win. Essentially, you must agree to let the nursing home pick the judge, jury, and rules to play by, and on the slim chance you might win, you must protect the nursing home from exposure and accountability.
I doubt any of you would ever go to Court and let the other side pick his/her employee as the judge and jury.
This is a rare opportunity to fix a broken system. This may not affect you now, but with our aging population, the statics show that most of us will have to deal with this issue in our lifetime. Please go to the link below and sign the petition.
www.change.org/p/tell-nursing-homes-to-stop-stealing-seniors-rights