Good News in Home Care - Maybe

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FYI - Home Care Alert

September 21, 1998

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press.

A key House committee recommended restoring $1.4 billion for Medicare

home health care benefits cut by congressional budget-balancers last

year.

But it's unclear where the money would come from or whether the full

House, much less the Senate, will go along with the plan.

Trying to stem the growth of Medicare's home health program, Congress put

new limits on what some said was out-of-control, potentially fraudulent

use of the benefit.

But home health companies have complained that the cuts were too deep.

And some elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries say they aren't

getting the care they need.

``It behooves us to try to make some kind of correction,'' said Rep. Bill

Archer, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which

agreed to restore some spending in a voice vote Friday.

New annual caps on payments to home care companies were meant to save

$1.6 billion this year alone. In the past, companies were paid for every

visit, virtually without limit.

Congress has ordered up a more precise payment system that was to be

ready by next year, but it has been delayed while Medicare struggles to

fix computer problems caused by the year 2000 glitch.

Meanwhile, auditors with the General Accounting Office _ Congress'

investigative branch _ examined the situation in August and found that

despite the new payment caps, the number of home health care companies

serving Medicare beneficiaries has continued to grow.

At the same time, the auditors found that people with serious conditions

requiring expensive care have had more trouble finding it.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, who released the GAO report

Friday, have not decided if any immediate change is needed.

In the House Ways and Means Committee, Republicans and Democrats agreed

to restore some money to Medicare, but could not decide where it should

come from.

Democrats want to preserve expected budget surpluses to shore up the

Social Security system. They suggested scaling back a Republican

favorite: tax-free medical savings accounts for senior citizens,

scheduled to be available on an experimental basis starting next year.

But the GOP quickly rejected that suggestion.

Another idea, to make Medicare beneficiaries pay part of the cost of each

home care visit, is backed by Rep. Bill , R-Calif., but has won

little support from other lawmakers of either party.

[Copyright 1998, Associated Press]

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R. Kovacek, MSA, PT

KovacekManagementServices, Inc.

The FOCUS Group, Inc.

20225 Danbury Lane

Harper Woods, MI 48225

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