Susan Collins: “The fact is that it now appears the savings goals set for home health have not only been met but far exceeded. According…”

“The fact is that it now appears the savings goals set for home health have not only been met but far exceeded. According to CBO, spending for home health care fell by 35 percent in 1999, and CBO cites the larger-than-anticipated drop in the use of home health services as the primary reason that total Medicare spending actually dropped, overall Medicare spending, by 1 percent last year. The CBO now projects that the post Balanced Budget Act reductions in home health care will be approximately $69 billion. That is over four times the $16 billion Congress expected to save. It is a clear indication that the cutbacks have been far deeper and far more wide reaching than Congress ever intended.”