Home Health & Hospice Week

House budget bill on track to pass with no Medicare cuts.

Home health agencies are anxiously waiting to see whether Congress will take up home care cuts--and the chances of that just increased.

The U.S. Senate passed a budget reconciliation package Nov. 3 that did not include any cuts to Medicare HHA spending. And at press time, the U.S. House of Representatives was on track to pass a budget reconciliation package with no Medicare cuts at all.

But home care providers are still one of the most appealing targets lawmakers are considering for budget savings in 2006, experts warn. When Senators and House members go to conference to work out the differences in their budget bills, they'll likely be looking for ways to pay for the changes--and Medicare home care spending could be the fall guy.

It already appears likely that the Senate will have to abandon its provision cutting $5.4 billion over five years in spending to Medicare managed care plans. The White House Office of Management and Budget says President Bush will veto budget legislation that includes such a cut. The fund encourages managed care plans to offer prescription drug coverage under the new Part D benefit beginning in January.

If legislators scrap that provision in conference, they'll have to make up the savings elsewhere--perhaps with Medicare HHA spending. Other likely budget additions, such as an increase to physician spending, will cause the same effect.

"Everybody in health care needs to be on guard until eggnog time," one Senate Republican aide told Congressional Quarterly.

Meanwhile, the Senate approved an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2006 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill that would increase spending on telehealth by $10 million. "This means a great deal to rural states," cosponsor Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) says in a release. "It will allow much-needed growth and improvement in the field of telehealth."