A congressional redesign of the Medicare benefit should include a home health copay of $150 for certain episodes.
 
That’s one of several suggestions made by Glenn Hackbarth, chairman of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) at a Feb. 26 House Ways and Means Committee hearing.
 
The hearing was designed to examine the benefit design of traditional Medicare and evaluate its sustainability. MedPAC’s copay suggestion has been included in several of its annual reports to Congress.
 
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) didn’t give oral testimony at the hearing, but submitted in writing its concerns about the adoption of a home health copay, according to a Feb. 27 article in the NAHC Report. A copay would discourage patients from seeking out needed home health services, NAHC argued.
 
NAHC further reports that while committee members agreed Medicare’s benefit design needs reform, there was little agreement as to how this should be accomplished.