The New York Coalition for Dignity and Aging is claiming that low Medicaid rates are slowing patient transfers to nursing homes, including on Long Island. The coalition says decades of under-funding and Medicaid rates mean facilities are only reimbursed for about 75 to 80 percent of what care actually costs. "We're only taking in residents that we can care for properly, so if we don't have the staff and we don't take in people, then it's getting backlogged at the local hospitals," said Joe Carillo, of Carillon Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, "which is probably twice our rate so it's actually costing the state more money to keep them in hospitals."