As lawmakers and President Barack Obama discuss possible changes to federal entitlement programs as part of a larger deal to , expect provider groups to make their case loud and clear: Don鈥檛 cut us.
Photo by Karl Eisenhower/KHN
The American Hospital Association is circulating that are well-known and included in other deficit-reduction plans, such as raising Medicare鈥檚 eligibility age, 鈥渕odernizing鈥 cost-sharing for Medicare and Medicaid and taxing junk foods and sugary drinks.
鈥淧roviders already face billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid payment cuts鈥 and additional reductions could jeopardize beneficiaries鈥 access to care, according to the document. 鈥淭rue entitlement reform and approaches to change the health care delivery system are needed 鈥 not provider cuts,鈥 it states.
The is also weighing in with to remind lawmakers that home health services save Medicare money because beneficiaries are cheaper to care for at home. Requiring cost-sharing for home health services would add to the financial burden seniors already face for housing, food, health care and other costs, and may mean that seniors skip physician-prescribed home health care, the group says. 鈥淪ome could end up in more expensive institutional settings,鈥 the report states.
Former House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., a senior counsel to the home care group, said seniors already have 鈥渂ig skin in the game鈥 when it comes to paying for their Medicare. 鈥淛ust ask them. They鈥檒l tell you.鈥
While hospitals, home health agencies and other Medicare providers don鈥檛 like the idea they鈥檒l face further cuts as part of the deficit reduction plan, other groups are recommending 聽just that as part of their plans to cut the deficit.
On Wednesday,聽the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, that calls for hospitals, drug companies, home health providers and others聽to lose billions in Medicare funding over the next decade.
