Over the past two weeks, residents, family members, staff, volunteers and community leaders of the Weatherwood nursing facility in Weatherly have sent 15 handwritten letters to local legislators urging them to make the care of the state's frailest, sickest people a priority in the state budget.

The letters showcased personal stories in an effort to illustrate the importance of state funding for long-term care services."State budgets should not be balanced on the backs of the frail elderly," administrator Karen Nocilla wrote in a press release Thursday."The cost of senior care is rising. The level of care our residents require is more medically complex. Without increased Medicaid funding for our sickest residents, around-the-clock care for our poorest frail elderly may be out of reach. There is simply nowhere left for skilled nursing facilities to cut and still make ends meet."According to the press release, the state reimburses nurses facilities an average of $26 per resident per day, or $9,500 a year."That's less than the true cost of care," Nocilla wrote.Unreimbursed Medicaid costs in Pennsylvania will exceed $470 million this fiscal year, she wrote.All health-care providers lose money on Medicaid patients, but none so much as skilled nursing facilities, whose Medicaid percentage is the largest among providers.Two-thirds of all residents in skilled nursing facilities in the state rely on Medicaid.