Home Healthcare plays a vital role for many Americans.
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Earlier this year, Medicare & Medicaid Services centers, the federal organization managed by the Medicare program, issued one proposal For the home prospects system for health payments. The rule would reduce home healthcare payments by $ 6.4% or $ 1.13 billion in 2026 compared to 2025. This reduction follows heels almost 9% in cuts already in place from 2023 to 2025.
The cuts are intended to save Medicare. Medicine It is a federal health insurance plan that mainly covers people based on age and special health conditions. It is available to people aged 65 and over, regardless of income, as well as in some younger people with disabilities. This is a federal program – usually register with Medicare through social security.
Medicare is largely paid by payroll taxes – along with social security taxes, withheld from your paycheck and submitted to the federal government (some Medicare funding is also derived from premiums from optional services).
It is one of the largest sources of healthcare in America. In 2023Medicare covered over 66.7 million people. Total expenditure in 2023 were just over $ 1 trillion.
The declared goal of the recent rule is to cut costs, but critics and health care providers say it will limit access to care and oppression of health providers. It could also be more expensive for taxpayers: when patients cannot access home health care, this often means more Medicare costs, thanks to increased emergency visits and more expensive care in hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
(You can find out more about Medicare – and how it is different from Medicaid-here.)
Debbie Stabenow, a former Michigan senator, suggests that there is a better alternative or cessation of cuts: Root out attering fraud. Here’s what he has to say:
Home Health Care Services in America
I think it is safe to say that access to quality health care when you need is a priority for every American. Over 10,000 Public Schools have just been flooded with centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) services this week, as Americans expressed deep concern about the proposed 2026 Medicare Home Health Health Cuts – Reductions that could endanger the care of millions that depend on millions of it. Safe, independent and home.
As beloved and friends or battle chronic diseases, they have managed to take the care they need through Medicare Home Health Benefit without having to be uprooted and instituted. Again and again, the value of health care at home is very clear, as special care groups provide high quality, low -cost care that allows patients to maintain the dignity of independent living.
But now this benefit is in danger of being cut for millions of Americans based on basic home health care.
That is why we ensure that there is sufficient funding for quality health at home is so important. And it is important to have integrity and accountability in the system, so every dollar goes to those who need care.
This has become a very serious issue as we are watching what is happening on the other side of the country by my state of Michigan.
In Los Angeles, hospital -related fraud plans have become so aggressive and outrageously distorted the rates of payments at national level. With the boldness that can be associated with an action film, LA’s criminal rings make false allegations to the Medicare program and then wash the billions of dollars launched by taxpayers.
The problem in Los Angeles is so harmful, in fact, it gets the high -level intervention it deserves. The Ministry of Justice responds, as well as the agents of immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) and the local law enforcement. While this is a very good start, they need more. Congress and White House said they aim to scam Medicaid at the Big Beautiful Bill Act (BBBA). So, in addition to combating Hospice fraud, they should prioritize bad actors who commit health scams at home – they do not critically cut health services at home!
Like CMS Mehmet Oz Administrator and Deputy Manager Kim Brandt recently wrote to Los Angeles Times, criminals launch the Medicare program “using fake providers, ghost patients, shell companies and offshore money laundering systems billing systems ”. As a result, a new fraud war hall have begun to take tough, targeted action.
As a decades of home champion, I know that this approach is not just necessary-it is the best thing that can happen for health care at home.
But there is a big problem! Facing fraud in Los Angeles, a new proposal has just been revealed in Washington, which would cause the largest cuts in the Medicare Health Program. If it is finalized later this year, this huge cut will last over $ 1.1 billion in funding from Americans who need and deserve care and those providers who serve them with compassion and integrity – all while criminal fraud continues.
In response, some in the home health community call for “pause” legislation that will freeze the current health payment policy at home, which means any additional payment cuts next year. However, a pause will accidentally resort to fraud systems by maintaining the status quo, which means that claims and payments will continue to be processed and paid. Seeking to maintain the program exactly as it is, this measure would unintentionally allow the fraudsters to continue their criminal acts.
And that just can’t be allowed.
When I served in the US Senate, I introduced several cessation accounts with my friend, the Susan Collins Senator of Maine, who was meaningful at the moment. But now with the revelations of the outrageous fraud that have been revealed, it is clear that a pause would only punish those who do the right thing, while allowing the fraud to continue.
Instead of imposing the greatest reimbursement cuts or pursuing a pause, Congress must first direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to use the existing authority given by Congress to correct the fraud and other payments and other payments fair and accuracy.
This rule could also develop targeted action in high fraud areas such as LA, including provincial scam activators, detailed controls and temporary Moratoria in a new provider registration. Equally important, it would be based on the successful previous one, aiming for those who cheat on others.
Simply put, fight fraud first! Do not cut health care at home that people across our country need and deserve.
For Debbie Stabenow
Hon. Debbie Stabenow, the first woman elected to the US Senate by Michigan, was a leader of healthcare in Congress for almost three decades. He holds senior positions in the Senate Finance Committee, Senate Senate, Nutrition and Forest Committee and Senate leadership. Respect for her commitment to public service and her ability to build diplomatic coalitions, Senator Stabenow is now serving as a senior policy adviser to the Liberty Partners.
