Budget:
President Obama Proposes Home Health Copay -- Again
Published on Fri Feb 17, 2012
Plus: HHAs breathe sigh of relief over doc fix. Will home health agencies have the juice to fight off another copayment proposal this legislative session? The battle just got tougher, thanks to Presi-dent Obama's 2013 budget proposal. The Medicare Payment Advisory Com-mission is reissuing its proposal for a home health episode copay in its report to Congress next month, and now the president has added his voice to the call for a copay. The details: In the president's 2013 budget proposal, the White House floats a $100 per episode copay for non-LUPA episodes that are not preceded by an inpatient facility stay. The copay that would start in 2017 and apply to new beneficiaries would strip $350 million from Medicare home health spending over 10 years, according to the budget proposal. The $100 per episode amount is "modest," the proposal maintains. Plus: The president also says he supports "adjustments" to [...]