WASHINGTON — Last week Roll Call, the popular Capitol Hill newspaper, published an editorial by American Association for Homecare President Tyler Wilson on the importance of home care in overall health care reform.
The piece makes the case for why policymakers, if they are serious about lowering Medicare costs to fund health care reform, should understand that home care is actually a cost-effective alternative to more expensive forms of care and should be a critical component — not a casualty — of American health care reform.
"Current proposals under consideration in Washington will undoubtedly limit Americans' choice to access home medical equipment and services," Wilson wrote. "But what many policymakers don't realize is that further cuts to this sector are also likely to increase Medicare costs over time because they will force more people into nursing homes and hospitals and spur more frequent visits to emergency rooms …
"Most home medical equipment costs just dollars a day. The cost of providing the equipment and service for home oxygen, for example, is less than $7 per day under Medicare. Compare that to the average daily cost of about $200 for a nursing facility and more than $5,000 per day for a hospital stay under Medicare."
The editorial appeared July 6 in the newspaper's online policy forum.
Read the full text of the editorial, titled "Home Care: A Critical Health Care Reform Solution."