DeMaio denounces Obamacare cuts on in-home healthcare

The crisis in healthcare is about Medicare cuts which began in January to help fund Obamacare; the impact of these cuts will be severe on the in-home healthcare industry. The $22 billion in cuts over the next 4 years will cripple in-home healthcare, an industry that actually produces savings.

“Why eliminate a less expensive means of care?” Queried resident Ed Nutter of Mira Mesa.

Nutter doesn’t need assistance to care for his 96-year-old mother, but he has friends who have already been impacted by these cuts.

“They are scrambling to find ways to take care of them. They either go to skilled care which they can’t afford, their savings are are just sucked dry and they lose their ability to keep them there when they are the most vulnerable.”

The Obama Administration imposed the maximum cuts allowed, affecting more than 260,000 seniors in California who rely on these services. The cuts reduce Medicare’s reimbursement payments to the agencies that provide the care.

“30,000 home healthcare beneficiaries risk losing their services,” stated Congressional candidate Carl DeMaio. “In the state of California by 2017, estimates show nearly 50% of home healthcare agencies are at risk of going bankrupt.”

Colette Armstrong of Accent Care will have trouble hiring and retaining staff nurses and therapists. She too wonders why home healthcare was targeted for cuts.

“Appropriate care in the home can significantly improve the outlook for these patients, keep them home, out of the hospital and therefore, minimizing the cost to the healthcare system.”

In the last 3 years, in-home care saved $3 billion by keeping patients out of the hospital. In-home care, per day, is less than half of a skilled nursing facility and nearly 15 times less than a day in the hospital.

“The centers for Medicare and Medicaid services said that 40% of these small businesses will be out of business by 2017,” said Fred Yerrick of AMAC, a nationwide senior’s organization.

Yerrick says 500,000 jobs are threatened by Obamacare.

“The majority of the people receiving home healthcare are women, the majority of the people providing this care are women and the majority of the small-business owners who are employing the care givers are also women.”

These cuts will shrink in-home healthcare, which happens to be the fastest growing sector of the economy for jobs.