Research

Senate Democrats just voted down another Republican motion to protect America’s seniors. Just now, they voted against a motion from Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) to restore cuts to Medicare home health services. A story from today’s New York Times notes that Reid’s government-run health care legislation takes “a disproportionate share” of its funding from these services:   

Under the legislation, home care would absorb a disproportionate share of the cuts. It currently accounts for 3.7 percent of the Medicare budget, but would absorb 10.2 percent of the savings squeezed from Medicare by the House bill and 9.4 percent of savings in the Senate bill, the Congressional Budget Office says. The House bill would slice $55 billion over 10 years from projected Medicare spending on home health services, while the Senate bill would take $43 billion.

The New York Times story also shows how important these services are to Medicare beneficiaries.

“It helps me be independent,” said Mildred A. Carkin, 77, of Patten, Me., as a visiting nurse changed the dressing on a gaping wound in her right leg, a complication of knee replacement surgery. “It’s cheaper to care for us at home than to stick us in a nursing home or even a hospital.”

Additionally, Lisa Harvey-McPherson, president of Eastern Maine Home Care, warns that “patients… will pay the price if Congress makes the cuts in home care.” This is especially true for patients in rural areas. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a senator from her state, made this point this afternoon when urging her colleagues to support the Johanns amendment.