Legislation would improve hospice care
As we follow your news coverage of this year’s election campaign and the debate over Medicare, these stories will remind us that we need to provide better care for our senior citizens and find ways to control Medicare costs. I believe hospice can be an important solution for Medicare patients with life-limiting illnesses. It provides holistic care for elderly patients and their families and is more compassionate and potentially less costly than dying in a hospital intensive care unit.
With the number of state residents age 65 and older expected to increase over 60 percent between 2000 and 2030, the need for such high-quality and cost-effective care will be more important than ever. Medicare hospice providers need help to carry out their mission. That’s why Rep. Peter Roskam and other members of Congress are supporting the HELP Act, proposed legislation that would maintain access to hospice care and promote better safeguards to ensure that only quality providers are eligible to deliver Medicare hospice services. It would also help approximately 100 Illinois hospice providers to deliver even better services to their patients and families.
As a hospice professional, I want to thank Rep. Roskam for his support and urge older Illinois residents and their families to do the same.
Gary Johnson
Arlington Heights