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Dear Chairman Walden, Ranking Member Pallone, Chairman Brady, and Ranking Member Neal:
The National Coalition on Health Care (NCHC) is a coalition of health care stakeholder organizations committed to promoting an affordable, high-quality health system in the United States. As the nation’s oldest and most diverse group working to achieve comprehensive health reform, we represent more than 100 member organizations, including health care providers, purchasers, payers, and consumers. Collectively, our organizations represent, as employees, members, or congregants, more than 100 million Americans.
The Coalition is pleased to support H.R. 4006, the Community-Based Independence for Seniors Act of 2017. This legislation would establish a demonstration program aimed at helping seniors stay in their homes by furnishing targeted home based services.
Home- and Community- Based Services (HCBS) are essential to serving patients where they need it most—and more importantly, where the evidence shows they want to be. HCBS have yielded better outcomes and lower costs for consumers and taxpayers among those dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
This bill would test whether targeted use of such services, through a new Community-based Institutional Special Needs Medicare Advantage Plan (CBI-SNP), can deliver similar results for non-Medicaid seniors earning between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level.
Federal policies targeting high-cost, high-need populations are integral to fixing our health care system as a whole, and NCHC believes this particular model has substantial potential to bring down long-term costs for consumers and on the state and federal levels. NCHC looks forward to working with you to enact this important legislation.
If NCHC can be of any assistance, please contact NCHC’s Policy Director Larry McNeely at lmcneely@nchc.org.