{"id":542,"date":"2026-08-03T16:32:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=542"},"modified":"2026-08-03T16:32:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T16:32:49","slug":"medicares-hospice-bill-doubled-over-the-last-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thirstier.news\/?p=542","title":{"rendered":"Medicare\u2019s Hospice Bill Doubled Over the Last Decade"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In recent years, Medicare\u2019s spending on hospice has nearly doubled. We looked at this spending and found that the way Medicare pays for hospice care could be costing taxpayers billions more than it should.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Today\u2019s WatchBlog post looks at our new report<\/a> about inefficiencies in Medicare’s payments.<\/p>\n

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What is causing increases in Medicare spending<\/h2>\n
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Medicare is the federal government\u2019s health insurance program for people age 65 and older and people with disabilities. It is the largest insurance provider in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Medicare covers hospice care for beneficiaries with 6 months or less to live. The bulk of hospice care is routine home care delivered through visits by nurses, aides, and social workers to address a patient\u2019s pain and symptoms. In 2024, almost 2 million Americans relied on Medicare to pay for this end-of-life care.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Over time, spending on hospice care has increased substantially, nearly doubling during the last decade. Specifically, hospice care spending went from $15.5 billion to $27.5 billion between FY 2015 to 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some of the spending increases can be explained by the growing number of patients receiving care. During that 10-year time frame, the number of people enrolled in hospice care per year grew by 32%. And the average number of days in care increased 15% during this time, with long stays (more than 180 days) accounting for the majority of hospice spending in 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But while these changes are contributing to higher costs, another key driver is how Medicare is paying for hospice care\u2014by day instead of by visit.<\/p>\n

Medicare may have overspent by billions on hospice home care<\/h2>\n

Medicare pays a daily rate for hospice home care. With some exceptions, the daily rates generally do not depend on the number of visits or the type of health care professional delivering care. What does this mean? For Medicare, it means that regardless of how often a patient is visited or by whom, the cost to taxpayers is the same.<\/p>\n

Hypothetical Examples of Payment per Visit for Low- and High-Visit Hospices<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There are concerns that paying per day for hospice care creates financial incentives for hospices to minimize the care they provide. Said another way, if you\u2019re getting paid the same no matter how often you show up, why show up often?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We also looked at payments based on whether hospices provided a low or high number of visits.\u00a0 Specifically, we looked at the 20% of hospices that delivered the fewest visits (low-visit) and the 20% that delivered the most visits (high-visit).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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