The Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, authorized the Department of Health and Human Services to cut or increase categories of Medicare spending. Last year, then-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced home health care funding would be slashed by 3.5 percent annually until 2017. Industry analysts say these cuts disproportionately affect women—who make up the majority of home health care beneficiaries, caregivers, and professionals in that sector of health c are.
Robert Moffit, senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Health Policy Studies, said:
Congress does need to control the growth in Medicare spending. But the best way to do that is to inject free market competition into the program to control cost. In the meantime, Congress could secure solid home health care savings by adding a modest co-payment to that program. This is much better than simply cutting payments to home health agencies, which could reduce their participation and thus undercut seniors’ access to care.
>>> Bill Would Undo Medicare Home Health Cuts Under Obamacare
