[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 108 (Tuesday, August 4, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7007]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HOME HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is not many times we can 
come to the floor of the House and solve a problem by working with the 
administration and working legislatively to make good or make better 
what we have wronged.
  I am speaking this morning about the home health care industry, 
millions and millions of servants around the Nation who have made life 
better for those who are home-bound or infirm. We have a problem that 
they are facing that is causing many of them to close their doors, and 
that is the Medicare Interim Payment Plan. It is a problem and a plan 
that does not work.
  The home health care industry and those professionals who work every 
day go to the neighborhoods and homes of our respective constituents 
and provide them with the necessary health care at home that allows 
them to stay with their families, to stay in the homes that they paid 
for, to stay where they raised their children, to stay in their 
familiar surroundings.
  This process that is being enacted by HCFA is causing great stress 
and distress. And so, I would ask this House and the Administration to 
collaborate to change the laws and save our home health care industry. 
It will save the people who want to be home with their family and 
friends.

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