Seniors should pay portion of home health care costs

Dallas Morning News: Capitol Hill is considering a risky political strategy. Some legislators trying to produce a new Medicare bill want beneficiaries who receive home health care to pay a portion of the costs.
Wow. Lawmakers usually run away from asking seniors to pay more for entitlement programs. This is a fundamental shift. And we support it -- not because we want to discourage home health care, but because we want to ensure programs like Medicare are solvent.
That's a challenge for Medicare, since its key trust fund will run dry by 2030. Unless Congress makes changes, the program will have to charge Gen Xers and Yers exorbitant payroll rates to keep Medicare afloat.
That option is patently unfair. And it is one reason lawmakers are working on a Medicare bill. It also explains why today's seniors should go along with the proposal.
Home health care started in the 1970s as a compassionate alternative for seniors. Instead of going to a hospital or nursing home, they could get care at home. Although legislators first asked seniors to offset some of the costs, they stopped doing so.
Home health care
The idea now is to have seniors pay $40 to $45 for every 60-day period of home health care. That is appropriate, since the federal government picks up the other costs, which usually run $2,700 to $3,000 for every six months of care. And Medicare's home health costs are predicted to triple over the next decade.
We urge GOP Rep. Bill Thomas of California to stand firm. The co-payment champion already faces strong opposition. Many senators, including Republicans, are speaking out against the reform. And you can be sure lobby groups for seniors will fight hard against it.
Congress can exempt low-income seniors from the fee. But if legislators have any sense of moral and financial responsibility, they won't back down on applying it to other seniors. Washington must save Medicare for future generations. Lawmakers won't do so if they offer beneficiaries the political equivalent of cheap grace: Salvation without any change in their behavior.