According to the Brookings Institution, covering seniors’ home care for even one year would cost Medicare $40 billion. The program already accounts for more than one in every five dollars spent on healthcare in this country. Medicare spending exceeded $944 billion in 2022, the most recent year for which there are federal data. Its Part A hospital insurance trust fund is slated to run out of money as early as 2036.
Medicare should not cover at-home care
Sally C. Pipes
Taxpayers cannot afford to pay for the home healthcare of every senior who needs it. People need to save for these expenses. And those savings exist!
Vice President Kamala Harris announced a plan earlier this month to add home healthcare benefits to Medicare. The plan is a fiscal fantasy. Medicare is already in a fiscal crisis, and new benefits will only make things worse.
According to the Brookings Institution, covering seniors’ home care for even one year would cost Medicare $40 billion. The program already accounts for more than one in every five dollars spent on healthcare in this country. Medicare spending exceeded $944 billion in 2022, the most recent year for which there are federal data. Its Part A hospital insurance trust fund is slated to run out of money as early as 2036.
Read then entire Washington Examiner op-ed here.
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