Three million senior and disabled Americans depend on Medicare to help pay for their home health care. Now some in Congress are proposing to drastically reduce Medicare reimbursement for home health services for the chronically sick and elderly, far beyond what President Obama has proposed. Home care combines efficiency and compassion, encouraging independence for seniors and those living with health conditions, while keeping families together. Please tell Congress to protect the right to care at home. Help us urge Congress to embrace President Obama’s vision for health care reform with the promise of preserving existing Medicare benefits including home health reimbursement.
The Facts
It’s the preferred choice.
Nine out of 10 people prefer home care over institutional care. It can be acute care following a hospital stay or serious illness; long-term care for someone with a disability or an elderly person in declining health; hourly shift care for a medically fragile infant on a ventilator; or end-of-life care for a terminally ill patient.
It supports independent living.
It encourages independence for seniors and those living with chronic health conditions, while keeping families together. Home care is consumer-focused, offering personalized care in the comfort of patients’ homes.
It saves money.
It is right for these economic times.
As our nation deals with the worst economic crisis in decades and millions of lost jobs, home care is providing thousands of new jobs. From 1993 to 2007, home care employment grew an average of 5.4 percent annually. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that many of the most needed jobs now and in the future will be in home care (including the top two: personal care aides and home health aides).
The Reality
Senior and disabled care
will be at risk.
Even under today’s standards, Medicare provides coverage for only 3 million of the 12 million Americans who receive home care annually. For these American’s, home care means the freedom to live in their own homes and out of nursing homes and hospitals. Key reform measures would cut home health spending by as much as $57 billion over a 10-year period.
Unless Congress acts, home health will take an unfair burden of cuts in proposed health care reform. The staggering cuts contained in pending legislative bills are unacceptable and put services to seniors and the disabled at great risk, forcing families to make tough choices about long-term care for their loved ones.