House coalitions write letter to urge repeal of 15% reduction
By MATTHEW HAY
HHBR Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON The Home Health Working Group and the Rural Health Care Coalition wrote House Budget Chair man John Kasich (R-OH) last Friday asking that language be included in the FY01 budget resolution instructing the committees of jurisdiction to eliminate the 15% reduction in Medicare home health services scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2001.
"Even without implementation of the 15% mandatory reduction, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) has already drastically reduced access to Medicare home health services," the groups wrote Kasich on March 3.
When the BBA was passed in 1997, the groups pointed out, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO; Wash ington) estimated the savings from the Medicare home health benefit, including the 15% reduction, to be $16 billion over fiscal years 1998-2002.
Instead, HCFA recently projected that Medicare home health outlays will decrease approximately $69 billion over the same five-year period, using the assumption that the 15% reduction would be implemented in FY02.
"Since BBA ’97 passage, over 2,500 home health agencies have closed or stopped serving Medicare beneficiaries 25% of the total closing or no longer serving Medicare beneficiaries," the groups added. "In fact, the CBO has pointed to the decrease in home health spending as a major factor in the decrease in overall Medicare spending for FY98 and FY99."
The groups further contend that failure to address the 15% cut could actually cost the Medicare program money since home health providers would not be able to serve all homebound beneficiaries with care needs. "More often than not, such beneficiaries usually end up in emergency rooms, hospitals, or nursing homes at costs considerably higher than care provided in the home," the groups said.
"Despite last year’s legislation that restores some funding to the Medicare home health benefit," the groups added, "the hemorrhaging of the home health benefit persists, agencies continue to go out of business, and certain high-cost beneficiaries are at risk of not receiving care."
The House Budget Committee took the lead in bringing about a delay of the 15% automatic reduction last year. "We are now urging the Committee to go further and consider language calling for the elimination of the 15% cut in this year’s budget resolution," the groups concluded.
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