The Wall Street Journal on Thursday examined how U.S. nursing homes are "forcing out frail and ill residents" in an effort to "replac[e] them with shorter-term residents likely to bring more revenue." Federal law allows nursing homes to evict residents for six reasons: they are healthy enough to return home; they require care not offered at the nursing home; they risk the health of other residents or staff; they endanger the safety of other residents or staff; they do not pay their bills; or the nursing home closes. However, some state officials and patient advocates say that nursing homes "often go too far, seeking to evict those who are merely inconvenient or too costly," such as residents with dementia or demanding families.  Medicaid beneficiaries are at greater risk of eviction because Medicaid reimbursement rates are as little as half of what nursing homes make from residents who pay their bills out-of-pocket, with private coverage or through Medicare, according to the Journal. The Journal reports that Medicaid reimbursement payments to nursing homes in 2007 were $4.4 billion less than the cost of treating beneficiaries. According to Michael Wiederhorn, a health care analyst for Oppenheimer, approximately two-thirds of nursing home residents who stay in facilities more than 90 days depend on Medicaid to pay their bills.