LETTERSa: RESTORE MEDICARE'S HOME-HEALTH BENEFITS

To the editor:

There has been a lot of talk in Washington about what the government should do with the budget surplus, which is projected to reach as much as $3 trillion over the next 10 years. While some members of Congress argue the surplus should be returned to taxpayers through tax cuts, I say return it to those people who have paid into the system the longest: senior citizens.

Homebound senior citizens and disabled individuals are losing their home-care services, paying the price for Medicare cuts enacted under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The projected surplus is made up in large part of dollars saved through these very cuts. But are we really saving money when we force homebound individuals to leave the homes they love and enter institutions, usually at a much higher cost?

The Balanced Budget Act was crafted with the intent to cut $16.1 billion from Medicare home-health benefits from 1998 to 2002. But the latest projections from the Congressional Budget Office show the cuts will really amount to three times that: $48 billion. In addition, unless Congress acts this year, access to vital home-health services and the viability of agencies nationwide will be further threatened when Medicare home-health payments are slashed by another 15 percent in October 2000.

Unable to provide quality care under a Medicare reimbursement system that doesn't even cover actual costs, some 2,000 home-care agencies across the nation have closed in the past year and a half. Even more agencies have had to lay off staff members and limit the number of services provided to make ends meet. Does this impact patients' access to quality home-health care? You bet.

Amid all the talk, let's hope Congress and the White House realize America's health-care system -- including its vital home-health care providers and the patients they serve -- has already contributed more than its fair share. It's imperative that they restore the crumbling foundation of the Medicare home-health benefit for today's elderly generation and for generations to come.

CLAIRE J. KARNES, R.N., Vice President

Pyramid Group Inc.

Cape Girardeau