National Association for Home Care & Hospice President William Dombi predicted a race to the finish on passage of legislation friendly to the home care industry by the end of the year.
During a webinar Wednesday, Dombi said NAHC is aggressively lobbying Congress to include a $3,000 annual tax credit for family caregivers in the reconciliation package that the House of Representatives is expected to vote on next week.
“AARP and other strong consumer support is helping this along. We are working in concert and collaboration with them,” Dombi said during the webinar. “It is a focus on the middle class. It is an effort to avoid the pauperization that can ultimately trigger Medicaid eligibility.”
House Democrats approved a $1.75 trillion reconciliation package early last week that includes $150 billion for home-and-community-based services, $1 billion for direct care workforce competition grants, $440 million to support unpaid caregivers for older adults and $20 million to support hospice and palliative care services.
Choose Home push
NAHC, LeadingAge, and the Home Care Association of America are also pushing Congress to pass the Choose Home Care Act of 2021 by the end of the year as well. That legislation allows Medicare patients to receive home care services as an add-on for 30 days following a hospital stay. The bill has garnered strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
Sequestration pending
And NAHC is lobbying hard for Congress to extend the suspension of sequestration. The moratorium on the automatic 2% Medicare payment cuts ends Dec. 31. Washington first suspended the cuts in May of 2020 through the end of last year as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES). They were suspended a second time earlier this year.
“Last year at this time on Dec. 27, Congress passed and the president signed a three-month extension of the moratorium. So, there are strong efforts underway throughout all of the Medicare voices in healthcare to extend this moratorium because we are still within the public health emergency,” Dombi said.
In September, the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation sent a letter to congressional leaders asking them to extend the moratorium until the end of 2022.
