‘drinking From A Fire Hose’: Senior Living Sector Braces For Onslaught Of Trump Policy Actions

Senior living providers must brace for a lot of unpredictability in the coming months with the change from the Biden to Trump administration.

This uncertainty is being caused in part by the flurry of executive orders and the amount of change the new administration is trying to accomplish before the end of its first year, according to Dan Samson, director of government relations at senior living advocacy organization Argentum.

“We understand that everybody here is sort of drinking from a fire hose to make sense of all this executive activity that is taking place,” Samson said during a Jan. 29 webinar. “There’s going to be a lot of uncertainty, probably for a while, as all this stuff settles. [There’s] just going to be a lot of unknowns.”

Samson added it is going to “take a while” before the organization has a full understanding of what policies are going into effect and the legal challenges associated with them.

However, Argentum sees deregulation as a big priority of the new Trump administration, along with tax policies. As such, Argentum is already meeting with administration members to advance its own tax policies, Samson said, in order to help more people afford senior living.

Other administration priorities causing unknowns include tariff policies and mass deportations. Samson said there might be concerns about the impacts tariffs could have on senior living residents with price increases, and the deportation plans being put into effect are causing concerns in regard to the industry’s workforce.

Samson believes most of these changes will happen within the first two years of Trump’s term, citing similar momentum with his first term before things “came to a halt” in 2019.

“They’re trying to get as much done as possible in these first two years, and that means they’re doing an all out sprint in these first two years, with the expectation that they have a trifecta right now, with the White House, with the Senate and with the House,” he said. “They want to do as much as they can with those majorities while they have them.”

Other current unknowns involve the nominees to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. With regard to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in particular, Samson said Argentum doesn’t have much information regarding his views on long term care or senior living at this time.

“We’ve done quite a bit of outreach with the administration … talking about all the different opportunities that there are to work with Argentum, to work with senior living, to help promote assisted living,” Samson said. “This is just sort of the start of the process, and we’re going to be working very closely with all these agencies and all these nominees as they go forward.”

On Wednesday, Kennedy faced questions from the Senate Finance Committee. He spoke out against the nursing home staffing mandate implemented by the Biden White House, which industry advocates have staunchly opposed. Kennedy also faced scrutiny over his familiarity with Medicaid and the expectation that the Trump administration will seek Medicaid cuts, with Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, warning that such cuts will lead to nursing home closures.

Also on Wednesday, the White House rescinded an order to freeze federal grants and loans pending a review. The order caused an uproar Tuesday, including concern and confusion over whether Medicaid payments would be affected.

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