(Alexandria, VA and Washington, DC) – The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) issued the following statement in response to the upcoming markups of policies that will establish policies for the congressional reconciliation packages.
The ongoing conversations around potential reductions to Medicaid spending are increasingly concerning to the Alliance and our provider members that deliver home and community-based services (HCBS), hospice, and palliative care to children with serious health conditions, older adults, and people with disabilities. Although we recognize that leadership in the House and Senate have expressed support for preserving services to these populations, we do not believe that it is possible to reduce Federal Medicaid expenditures by hundreds of billions of dollars over a ten-year period without negatively impacting eligibility and access to care. The reasons for this include:
- At the state level, Medicaid funding is fungible and reductions are often distributed across a wide swath of the program;
- Reductions in Federal funding would either require additional state money to backfill the loss – thus pulling resources from other parts of the program – or, more likely, would lead similar reductions to the state matching dollars, resulting in compounded cuts at the service delivery level;
- Services to older adults and people with disabilities represent over 52% of total Medicaid expenditures, making it nearly impossible to effectuate large reductions in spending without impacting services to these individuals;
- The optional nature of HCBS and the ability to cap enrollment and establish waiting lists creates additional vulnerabilities when Medicaid spending reductions and state budget shortfalls occur; and
- Attempts to limit reductions to the “childless adult group” would negatively impact many paid and unpaid caregivers who provide HCBS.
We have stated previously, and reiterate now, that we believe there are opportunities to find common ground around reasonable provisions to strengthen program integrity in Medicaid. However, these provisions would not achieve the level of reductions contemplated by the Reconciliation framework. We strongly encourage Congress to reevaluate the framework and pursue more reasonable, achievable, policies that do not put services to older adults and persons with disabilities at risk.
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Press Contacts
communications@allianceforcareathome.org
Tom Threlkeld | 202-547-7424
Elyssa Katz | 571-281-0220
About the National Alliance for Care at Home
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) is a new national organization representing providers of home care, home health, hospice, palliative care, and other health care services mainly delivered in the home. The Alliance brings together two organizations with nearly 90 years of combined experience: NAHC and NHPCO. NAHC and NHPCO have combined operations to better serve members and lead into the future of care offered in the home. Learn more at www.AllianceForCareAtHome.org.
