Commentary: Is co-pay just a ‘sick tax’?

Proposed cost reductions for the federal Medicare program come in many shapes and sizes.

One that has drawn major opposition is a co-payment for Medicare beneficiaries who use home health care services.

The Georgia Association for Home Health Agencies is among health groups objecting to this idea.

The chairman of that group’s Government Affairs Committee, Clay Campbell, writes in a new GHN Commentary that home health co-pays could actually drive up Medicare costs.

“Amid the current budget deliberations, some have proposed co-payments for skilled home health care,’’ Campbell writes. “Our community feels that such a step would be nothing but a ‘sick tax’ on seniors. A home health co-payment, unfortunately, would fall hardest on the low-income and clinically disadvantaged seniors who need the Medicare program’s help the most.”

Here’s a link to Campbell’s Commentary.

Georgia Health News welcomes Commentary submissions. If you would like to propose a Commentary piece for Georgia Health News, please e-mail Andy Miller, editor of GHN, at  amiller@georgiahealthnews.com