Shutdown freezes health projects for seniors as HUD chief blasts ‘left’s healthcare hypocrisy’

FIRST ON FOX: The government shutdown has put financing for healthcare projects on ice across the country, affecting an estimated 12,800 beds at sites serving vulnerable senior citizens, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

“This shutdown is a case study in the left’s healthcare hypocrisy,” HUD chief Scott Turner told Fox Digital Friday. “While they fight for free healthcare for illegal aliens, they are delaying HUD’s financing for critical care facilities for America’s seniors. It’s time to stop playing politics and get these projects moving again.” 

The government shutdown began Oct. 1, when Senate lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement. There is no end in sight, with President Donald Trump urging Republicans to hit the “nuclear option” and end the filibuster as Democrats continue voting against reopening the government. 

At the heart of the shutdown is a debate on healthcare. Trump and Republicans have pinned shutdown blame on Democrats for working to include healthcare benefits for illegal immigrants in the package. Democrats have denied the claims and instead argue the government is shut down due to Republicans failing to negotiate healthcare demands. 

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Amid a Capitol Hill debate on healthcare policy, senior citizens nationwide are feeling the real-life effects of the shutdown, according to data provided to Fox Digital by HUD. 

HUD found that the shutdown has resulted in a handful of health projects backed by HUD or the Federal Housing Administration being halted across 32 states, affecting roughly 12,800 beds at health centers that overwhelmingly serve senior citizens on Medicare. 

HUD provided Fox News Digital with a breakdown of states most affected by the shutdown as it relates to healthcare resources, finding health projects in Nevada, Maryland and Georgia have most notably been affected. The projects overwhelmingly serve elderly individuals who require round-the-clock healthcare and other Medicare recipients, according to HUD. 

In Henderson County, Nevada, for example, a short-term rehabilitation and long-term skilled nursing home that supports 266 beds for Medicare patients is affected by the shutdown because its FHA-insured financing has stalled, delaying improvements and refinancing savings for the facility, according to HUD. 

A short-term rehabilitation and long-term care facility in Glen Burnie, Maryland, is also affected by the shutdown because FHA is halted from processing an application that would provide lower-cost capital for the facility, delaying renovations and updates, Fox Digital learned. 

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Another Maryland facility providing care to Medicare patients in need of intensive rehabilitation or skilled nursing is also unable to complete refinancing or site improvements needed to maintain compliance due to the shutdown, according to HUD. 

Two FHA health projects in Georgia have stalled 237 skilled nursing facility beds, according to HUD, representing $47.4 million in insured financing. The projects were on the verge of closing and would have benefited from refinanced high-interest private debt, Fox Digital learned, but they are on ice until the government reopens. 

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Additionally, according to HUD, all endorsements of FHA-supported reverse mortgage loans have been put on hold, leaving many seniors unable to access funds against their mortgage for day-to-day or healthcare expenses. The backlog for such reverse mortgages grows by about 60 transactions each business day as the shutdown persists, Fox Digital learned. 

Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have accused Republicans of failing to negotiate healthcare policy, with Republicans responding that Democrats are holding the American people “hostage” by not passing a “clean continuing resolution” to reopen the government. 

“The government is shut down for one reason and one reason only: Donald Trump and the Republicans would rather kick 15 million people off health insurance and raise premiums by thousands and thousands of dollars a year on tens of millions of Americans rather than sit down and work with Democrats on fixing healthcare,” Schumer said earlier in October. 

Trump and his administration have railed against Democrats for the shutdown, calling for five “reasonable” Democrats to come forward and vote to reopen the government as federal food assistance funds run dry, air traffic controllers miss their first full paycheck and hundreds of thousands of employees remain furloughed. 

Only 52 Republicans and three Democrats or Democrat-aligned lawmakers have voted to reopen the government, meaning five additional Democrats are needed in order to end the shutdown. 

“We are happy to talk about any policy issues,” Vice President JD Vance said from the White House Thursday after meeting with aviation leaders rocked by the shutdown ahead of the holiday travel season. “We’re happy to talk about health care policy. We’re happy to talk about tax policy. We’re happy to talk about regulatory policy, but not at the point of a gun.

“You do not get to take the American people’s government hostage and then demand that we give you everything you want in order to pay our air traffic controllers,” he continued. “It’s a ridiculous set of demands. Let’s reopen the government, and then let’s sit down and talk about how to compromise on policy for the American people.”