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Rehabilitation support by Medicare needed
Your representatives in Congress can help
Correspondence between the publisher and Hon. Barney Frank
COPD TODAY: A Life Challenge A Life Challenge | Resources: 1-Diagnosis and Treatment | 2-Adjustment and Support | 3-Information | 4-Newsletters and Organizations | Editorial
4 October, 2000
The Honorable Barney Frank
2210 Rayburn
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Frank:
I am writing to urge your support for the inclusion of outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation under the Medicare program. There are about 16 million people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and it is reasonable to estimate that over 200,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. I am genuinely concerned about patient access to pulmonary rehabilitation programs. As it is there are not enough rehab programs to serve the population with COPD. I strongly support congressional efforts to add this service to the Medicare program.
The precipitous implementation of the hospital outpatient prospective payment system taken on August 1, 2000, has eliminated the payment mechanisms for pulmonary rehabilitation. Without Congressional action to specifically cover pulmonary rehabilitation under Medicare, by amending the Social Security Act, many Medicare beneficiaries will no longer have access to this care. Your action to do this will not result in new Medicare costs; only restoration of payments that were available under a cost-based system. It is imperative that people with Chronic Lung Diseases have access to rehabilitation programs. It extends their lives by reducing complicating conditions, improves their overall outlook on life, and improves their general well being. People with COPD need to remain active under skilled medical supervision that will provide the correct interventions to reduce hospital readmissions and improve daily living.
If people with COPD learn how to manage their condition (ideally, in a professional rehab program), they can avoid exacerbations and hospitalization. Many can live a normal span of life with a much-improved quality of life. But untreated they are condemned to a form of house arrest and likely early death.
My knowledge of this field is based on the fact that I am the publisher of a handbook for people with COPD; the authors (medical experts and a person with COPD) present information based on modern rehab philosophy. I would be pleased to provide a free copy of our book to aid in your consideration of this issue. You may also wish to visit our web site at www.HealthyResources.com which includes information drawn from our book and reports prepared specially for the internet.
Thank you for your support in this matter.
Sincerely,
(Signed)
Jerry Halberstadt
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington DC
October 25, 2000
Dear Mr. Halberstadt:
Thank you for your letter. I share your view that we should extend Medicare coverage for pulmonary rehabilitation programs. In fact, I believe we ought to extend Medicare as well to cover other services currently not available under it, e.g., prescription drugs, routine physicals, etc., and my preference for doing that would be to extend the program into a universal health care program for all. But achieving that goal will be difficult, and so in the very least, I think that services, such as pulmonary rehabilitation programs, which currently are not covered by Medicare, but are important healthwise for beneficiaries to have access to, should be included in it. Obviously, with adjournment about to happen, it is too late to do anything useful this year, but I promise you that I will be doing what I can next year for a broadening of Medicare along the lines that you advocate.
(Signed)
Barney Frank
For an excellent guide to advocacy on COPD issues, written by Bill Horden, see his Newsletter "Grassroots Organizations," which is in the Archive listed on The COPD Advocate Home Page