"Allowing these cuts to take effect would be devastating to the thousands of Americans who, without home health care, would be forced into hospitals or nursing homes," said Senator Collins.
Senator Collins has been working for more than four years to mitigate unintended consequences of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which was meant to stem the soaring costs of Medicare. The most recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections show the reductions made by the Balanced Budget Act to home health will exceed $70 billion between fiscal years 1998 and 2002.
"This reduction in home health benefits is more than four times the $16 billion that the CBO originally estimated," said Senator Collins. "It's a clear indication that the Medicare home health cutbacks have been far deeper than Congress ever intended."
The effect of these home health cuts has been particularly devastating in Maine. The number of Medicare home health patients dropped in Maine by 23 percent from June of 1998 to March of 2000. In addition to11,195 fewer Maine seniors receiving home health services, there was a 40 percent drop in the number of visits and a 31 percent cut in Medicare payments to home health agencies in Maine.
"An additional 15 percent cut in Medicare home health payments would be the absolute death knell for the low-cost, efficient providers who are currently struggling to hang on and would further reduce seniors' access to critical home care services. Moreover, this further drastic cut is unnecessary because we have already achieved – in fact, far surpassed – the savings target set by the Balanced Budget Act.
"There is strong support in the Congress for the elimination of this cut. Last year, the Senate overwhelmingly approved, by a vote of 99-1, a Collins-Bond amendment that was offered to the budget resolution to establish a $13.7 billion reserve fund that could only be used to eliminate the 15 percent cut.
"The cut should be eliminated once and for all before October 1st," said Senator Collins.