BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SET TO FORCE ELDERLY & DISABLED OUT OF THEIR HOMES

Where’s The Compassion Democrats Pretend To Possess?

On October 31st Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued its Final Rule which slashes 7.85% from home health care services for the elderly and disabled.  CMS reports that 3.5 million lower-income Americans currently receive such services.  When payments to providers are reduced, many providers will quit, and many patients will lose the help they need to remain in their homes, where they are the most comfortable. 

Conventional wisdom, backed up by stats, has long been that it is cheaper to keep a patient in his/her own home, whether it is owned or rented, than to institutionalize the individual.  This is true whether the home health care services are paid by the patient or paid by CMS.

Remaining at home and avoiding nursing homes, elder care homes, assisted living facilities and various other federally regulated institutions* has many benefits for the patient and his/her family which are examined below.  The biggest benefit is the fact that the patient is happier AND lives longer.

AMERICA’S ELDERLY ARE LIVING TOO LONG: LET’S PUSH THEM INTO THEIR GRAVES FASTER

The patient is happier AND lives longer.  Perhaps, from the Biden Administration’s point of view, THIS is the problem.  They want to hurry America’s older & disabled citizens through the pearly gates quicker by institutionalizing them and moving them away from friends, family, neighbors, sometimes hundreds of miles from their neighborhoods.  It is well known that this kind of isolation leads to depression and hastens death, not to mention there are more viruses, both man-made and natural, floating around inside these buildings than in private homes.  The elderly and infirm are more susceptible to viruses than others.

By decreasing payments beginning in January 2023, CMS estimates they will save $18 BILLION on home health care services alone over the next ten years. [Will this $18 Billion be spent on Biden’s illegal aliens which, at 5 Million & counting, already exceeds the number of Americans receiving home health care services?]  Although they have a pretty good idea how many perish in these institutions daily, weekly, etc., CMS refuses to release the “savings amount” that will be realized via fewer Social Security dollars paid out and fewer Medicare expenses BECAUSE THE RECIPIENTS ARE DEAD.

The population of Medicare home health care beneficiaries has grown older and sicker. More than 25% of home health users across the country are over the age of 85, and 43% have five or more chronic health conditions, compared to just 22% of all Medicare patients. That means these cuts will target some of the sickest, most at-risk older Americans.

These cuts will limit access to home health care.  The home health care profession is already being stretched by booming demand as many Americans want to stay out of the hospital to avoid contracting the Fauci Flu and other infectious diseases, and made worse by a shortage of home health workers.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TARGETING RED STATES AGAIN?

One analysis suggests that the cuts and clawbacks (demanding home health care agencies return payments already earned) could put 44% of America’s home health agencies at risk of closing, seriously risking beneficiaries’ access to care, especially in rural and underserved communities.

In 2021, Biden was jealous & resentful that some Red States did not lockdown their citizens, YET had low rates of Covid deaths.  To punish them he decreased their supplies of monoclonal antibodies.  This treatment proved very effective in treating Covid patients when administered early.  In other words, Biden and his Deep State bureaucrats would rather see Red State Americans die of Covid. 

Cutting back home health care services will disproportionately affect residents of rural areas which tend to vote Republican.  Is this yet another way to punish Red State Americans?   Indeed, in August Biden called Republican voters “Semi-Fascists” thereby displaying both his hatred of half of America and his ignorance of history.

OBAMACARE WAS DESIGNED TO ROB BABY BOOMERS OF MEDICARE BENEFITS

By passing and implementing the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare, in March 2010 (with no GOP votes in the House & Senate) the Dems had a number of goals.  The short-term goal was to deny Medicare benefits to Baby Boomers, the FIRST generation to pay Medicare taxes their ENTIRE WORKING LIVES. 

The oldest Baby Boomers were set to turn age 65 in 2011, making them eligible for Medicare benefits.  CAN’T HAVE THAT!!!!!  Although the politicians & Deep State bureaucrats had over 60 years to budget for such an expense, there wasn’t enough money in Medicare’s faux trust fund to pay for all the Baby Boomers’ Medicare expenses.  The greedy federal politicians and bureaucrats had already spent the money, like all pyramid schemes.

Half of Medicare funds were stolen, permanently transferred to Obamacare.  The states were so flush with Obamacare cash in the earlier years they didn’t know what to do with it.

OBAMACARE: WASTING MEDICARE DOLLARS

When I practiced law in Oregon I had clients: a couple who had been taking care of the wife’s mother in their home for almost two decades.  The mother was disabled and received Medicaid.  During all those years Medicaid paid this couple first $800, then $1,000 per month because THAT was better for the patient and cheaper than institutionalization.  One day a Medicaid payment arrived for more than $6,000.

They assumed it was an error, so they phoned their Oregon Medicaid caseworker.  They were told that, under Obamacare, THIS was the NEW amount they would be receiving EACH month.  They still didn’t feel comfortable cashing this huge check so they talked with the Medicaid supervisor.

The supervisor told them that Medicaid was “flush with cash due to Obamacare and Oregon HAD TO spend it.”  If they did not accept the higher monthly payments, he said, their mother would be removed from their home and institutionalized.

ONE QUESTION FOR BIDEN ADMINISTRATION:

As the 3.5 Million Americans are forced out of their homes, are there enough beds in Medicaid nursing homes to house them?  Will you be using the “savings” from cutting back on home health care payments to build more nursing homes?  Or, will these vulnerable Americans be sleeping in the streets, next to drug addicts and the mentally ill?

*My husband and I have had numerous older relatives in assisted living facilities over the years and they seemed to be well cared for even though most of them wanted to return home.  All were private pay, not Medicaid patients, so their facilities were higher quality.  However, it was very apparent that Federal and State regulations were in charge of their lives while they lived there.  When Fauci Flu arrived in early 2020 assisted living tenants were locked away like prisoners.  We were so glad our loved ones had already left this earth before the government they had supported their entire lives turned them into prisoners.

There are at least 10 advantages and benefits of home care:

Comfort, Personalized Care, Faster Recovery, One-on-one Attention, Cost Effectiveness, Peace of mind, Independence, Companionship, Family Involvement, Pet Ownership