Medicare Advisory Panel recommends co-pay for home health
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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission wants a copayment to discourage misuse of home health care services.
The congressionally appointed commission voted 13-1 to recommend that lawmakers impose the new charge. Two commissioners abstained and one was absent.
According to the Associated Press, home health services, which are currently covered under Medicare, cost taxpayers approximately $20 billion a year.
The co-pays, commission chairman Glenn Hackbarth said, would help avoid the benefit turning into a “long-term care social support system.”
Concerns with Medicare fraud and a tight budget have motivated the commission to look for cuts. Home health care was originally considered a “cost saver.” Now increasing costs and big differences in how communities around the country use the benefit have given lawmakers reason to make changes.
Exemption from the recommendation would include low-income patients covered by Medicaid, as well as those just discharged from the hospital. According to the AP, more than 30 million beneficiaries in traditional Medicare would be directly subject to the fee.
The recommendation was strongly opposed by AARP lobbyists who support a strong network of home providers to assist the more than 3 million seniors and disabled people on Medicare who are not able to easily leave home.
In September, AARP strongly supported The Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act of 2010, House Bill 4993 and Senate Bill 2814, which was a bi-partisan effort to expand the roles of nurse practitioners and physician assistant to allow them to certify home healthcare plans for Medicare patients.
In rural parts of the country, areas where the nation suffers from shortages of physicians, many Americans see nurse practitioners as their primary care provider.
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