For two years, a home health aide had come to John Anderson's home three times a week to care for his wife, who lost the ability to control most bodily functions to multiple sclerosis.
But then the home health agency abruptly announced they would have to cut services, saying Medicare would only pay enough for a nurse to change her catheter once a month.Anderson, a 73-year-old from Largo, Fla., didn't know what to do.
"I tried to take care of her, but it became more and more difficult," said Anderson.
Anderson was able to get the agency to start sending weekly help again after Medicare officials told Anderson he could insist on all the care his wife's doctor had prescribed.
The Clinton administration, concerned by cases similar to this one, has ordered home health care agencies to stop cutting care for the elderly.
"I was alarmed to learn that many beneficiaries are being frightened," said Medicare administrator Nancy-Ann Min DeParle.
In a letter to home health agencies Tuesday, DeParle said that new spending limits - imposed under the balanced-budget act to help reduce waste and abuse of Medicare's home health benefit - should not result in the loss of necessary care for homebound Medicare beneficiaries.
"We believe all Medicare enrollees can be safely and effectively cared for under this payment system by . . . (agencies) that deliver quality care efficiently," DeParle said in the letter, noting that home health companies "are not free to reduce the amount of care ordered for patients by physicians."