Rep. Cammack introduces bill to prohibit HHS from finalizing 80/20 home health rule
Press release from Congresswoman Kat Cammack
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Kat Cammack introduced a bill to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from finalizing the “80/20” rule and to prevent the Department from promulgating, implementing, enforcing, or giving effect to any substantially similar rule requiring a minimum percentage of Medicaid spending on home and community-based services (HCBS) providers be spent on compensation for direct workers.
The “80/20” rule, also called the “Medicaid Program; Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services (or the Access Rule) (88 FR 27960)”, would require, among other provisions, a minimum of 80 percent of all Medicaid reimbursements for HCBS to be directly spent on compensation of the workforce and would limit no more than 20 percent of reimbursements to be applied to administrative and overhead costs.
An estimated six million Americans rely on regular access to long-term services and supports (LTSS) and HCBS, a vital array of services needed by seniors and people with disabilities to meet their everyday needs. By the end of the decade, this number is expected to rise by another one million, threatening to exacerbate a shortage of LTSS providers.
Currently, the total number of LTSS providers falls well short of the needed demand, with hundreds of thousands of Americans on waiting lists just for Medicaid coverage of these services.
“The Biden administration’s proposed ’80/20′ rule would require states to spend billions in new unfunded mandates or force HCBS providers to reduce access to care for those who need it most,” said Rep. Cammack. “Because of top-down demands from the Biden administration, home care agencies can’t keep up with staffing levels and overall care levels while complying with this rule. It’s putting millions of Americans at a sharp disadvantage and only exacerbating the challenging issues we already face.”
Read the text of the bill here.
So, Moscow Kat favors more of Medicaid funds be spent on administrative overhead and profit and not on homemakers, home health aides, and personal care services.
By the way, the 80/20 rule would not take effect until 6 years from now and has a hardship exemption for providers, so our traitor House Rep’s claim that “home care agencies can’t keep up with staffing levels and overall care levels while complying with this rule” is BS and just more anti-Biden grandstanding. The rule is 6 years away.
Here’s the quote on the rule from the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid and a link to their page.
“Requires that, in six years, states generally ensure a minimum of 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide, and personal care services be spent on compensation for direct care workers furnishing these services, as opposed to administrative overhead or profit, subject to certain flexibilities and exceptions (referred to as the HCBS payment adequacy provision).
The HCBS payment adequacy provision provides states the option to establish: (1) a hardship exemption based on a transparent state process and objective criteria for providers facing extraordinary circumstances and (2) a separate performance level for small providers meeting state-defined criteria based on a transparent state process and objective criteria. The HCBS payment adequacy provision also exempts the Indian Health Service and Tribal health programs subject to 25 U.S.C. 1641 from complying with its requirements.
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/ensuring-access-medicaid-services-final-rule-cms-2442-f
Boy howdy Buffalo Bob, that bill outta take a bite outta crime huh 😉
Economies of scale help push down admin and overhead costs, so this 80/20 rule seems like it would benefit large providers at the expense of smaller providers.
Too blunt an instrument to use against struggling healthcare providers.
And, ironically, these sorts of regulations actually increase the need for administrators to file all the compliance documentation needed to prove that they are not overspending on administrators.
“I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” We can’t afford any more of that help.
Thank you, Rep. Kammack, for reigning in this regulation-happy administration, and for empowering small businesses to operate without the threat of government penalties ever looming.
*reining in*…oops
You’re making that up, so how about some data? Mom and Pop’s Home Health Care doesn’t have corporate offices on the 18th floor, lobbyists in Tally and DC, and dividend chasing BODs.
By the way, if you don’t want help from the government, the Hurricane Alley Sunshine State may not be for you. Besides, Moscow Kat ran on providing high speed internet to the boonies – i.e, help from the government – but voted against the Biden bill which is actually doing that in Florida.
You go Kat.
80% to workers, 20% to administration.
Of course Kat (Republicans) are against limiting executive and corporate capitalism’s hold on healthcare. Ask Rick Scott about that.