In an opinion piece for Stat News, Krista Drobac writes about a proposed government cut to Medicare home health care that, if finalized, will take a toll on older adults and people with disabilities. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, more people with Medicare have been receiving a wide range of care at home. They benefit from home health care and value their ability to get care at home.
Home care is particularly valuable because it allows people, who might otherwise need to move into a nursing home, to age in place. But, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a $810 million reduction in Medicare home health care spending beginning in 2023. If the cut goes through, it will reduce the number of people with Medicare able to get physical therapy, skilled nursing care and home health aide services in their home.
As it is, the Medicare home health benefit is quite limited. Only people who are effectively homebound–for whom leaving home requires a considerable and taxing effort–are eligible for the benefit. To qualify for Medicare covered home health care, they must also require either skilled nursing care or physical therapy on an intermittent basis–either daily for a short term or longer term for only a few days a week. The Medicare home health benefit should be expanded, not cut.
Cutting home care benefits would make aging in place even harder for older adults and people with disabilities. It would also undermine the government’s purported goal of promoting health equity, innovation and health care affordability. Home-health services help drive accountable care.
Home-health services are particularly valuable for people who live in rural areas. Cuts to Medicare home health care could make it harder to help ensure people in rural communities receive needed care.
If Medicare finalizes its proposed cuts to its home health benefit, home care services will become less affordable and accessible to people with Medicare.
Editor’s note: The federal government is overpaying Medicare Advantage plans tens of billions of dollars a year, and they are profiting wildly. Yet, CMS is planning to increase payments to these plans by 8.5 percent in 2023. Rather than continue to put money into the pockets of Wall Street investors, CMS should be helping to assure good affordable home care for people with Medicare.
Here’s more from Just Care:
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