After meeting earlier this month to decide how to resolve the state’s $2.6 billion budget deficit, the Florida legislature chose not to cut the Medicaid benefit for hospice care.
Each year more than 5 percent of Hospice of Palm Beach County’s 6,000 patients receive Medicaid assistance for hospice care. Had the cut passed, not only would patient care have been affected, but it would also have been more costly to the state. This was proven in a study recently released by healthcare research firm The Moran Company, which showed that the state would incur at least $3.7 million in additional costs if the Medicaid hospice benefit were cut.
Hospice care is a vital service because it focuses on caring for the patient’s needs as a whole, rather than strictly the patient’s physical and medical issues. The patient receives a comprehensive range of medical, spiritual and social services that are administered at home, as opposed to undergoing costly medical treatments in hospitals and emergency rooms.
Also, the Medicaid patient and family often face non-medical crises such as poverty, estrangement, and even homelessness. Hospice of Palm Beach County and other hospice programs provide social service support and professional case management. This helps the patient and family as well as over-burdened social service agencies. Hospice is a proven high-quality, patient-focused, yet low-cost program. It is an indispensable service that is available to all Floridians, and it is essential that it remain so.
