In Oklahoma, insurance revenues for home health care dropped last year in comparison to previous years. At the same time, the price of home healthcare rose 2.5 percent over last year, reports member station KGOU. In fact, healthcare costs are rising in every area of health care in Oklahoma.
It’s not just in Oklahoma; home health care costs are going up nationwide. The reason? More Medicare providers are trying to keep chronically ill patients out of hospitals.
It’s a problem of supply and demand. As Journal-Record managing editor Adam Brooks explains, “The whole industry sees [home care] as a growing market. . . . In fact, the expansion might be causing part of the problems now because as everybody increases their business to get their share of this money, the price drops for patients. There's just a little too much supply in some cases.”
