Yes, MedPAC is recommending a co-pay of $150 per episode, though that is just a “working figure” with no details addressed. MedPAC believes that beneficiaries consume more services when cost sharing is limited or nonexistent. They express concern that the PPS pays for care on a per episode basis that rewards additional volume and doesn’t limit the number of episodes a beneficiary can have. They believe that homecare should have a copay similar to other Medicare services to encourage appropriate utilization.

 

But, in the fall of 2011, political leaders that serve on the Joint Special Committee on Deficit Reduction announced that they were unable to come to an agreement for cutting the country’s budget deficit. Because they could not come to an agreement, they will fall back on an agreed plan, which was created in case they could not agree, referred to as “sequestration”. Under sequestration, automatic cuts of $1.2 trillion dollars will be made over the next 10 years. According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC), exempted from cuts include Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare beneficiary cuts. Provider cuts are not exempt, but have been limited to two percent per year. This lack of deal could result, then, in no copay being established because it would be considered a beneficiary cut.