NYT: Home Care Patients Worry Over Possible Cuts (Robert Pear)

Health reform to provide health coverage to 30 million Americans will require cutbacks in medicare spending. Lawmakers claim that payment reductions will not adversely affect care, yet a look at where these cuts will come from seem to suggest otherwise.

Home care offered to medicare patients often keep them out of expensive nursing homes and hospitals. However in the current health care reform bills, medicare home care funding will be cut.

"Under the legislation, home care would absorb a disproportionate share of the cuts. It currently accounts for 3.7 percent of the Medicare budget, but would absorb 10.2 percent of the savings squeezed from Medicare by the House bill and 9.4 percent of savings in the Senate bill, the Congressional Budget Office says. The House bill would slice $55 billion over 10 years from projected Medicare spending on home health services, while the Senate bill would take $43 billion. "

The illogical part is that medicare patients cite that home care is exactly what keeps them from being readmitted into hospitals to which a large part of medicare costs is attributed.

“Deep cuts to home health care would be completely counterproductive to our efforts to control overall health care costs,” Ms. Collins said. “Home care and hospice have consistently proven to be cost-effective and compassionate alternatives to institutional care.”

If home care is better for patients and cheaper in the long run, not only should it's funding not be cut but it should be increased.

Home Care Patients Worry Over Possible Cuts