Congress delays Medicare home health cuts—but only for two years
H.R. 5142 — Home Health Stabilization Act of 2025 · Filed by Kevin Hern (R-OK) · 21 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill delays Medicare payment cuts to home health agencies for 2026 and 2027 by reversing planned reductions (totaling about 9% combined) and instead providing positive payment adjustments. It essentially freezes home health payment rates at 2025 levels for two years, preventing the agencies from absorbing the scheduled cuts while Congress considers longer-term policy.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to suspend scheduled Medicare payment reductions for home health agencies for two years. While framed as protecting beneficiary access, it is mechanically a temporary subsidy to the home health industry, deferring cost-control measures.
What the text implies
- The bill does not address the underlying policy question of whether the 2026 cuts are justified by efficiency gains or cost control; it simply delays the decision, potentially creating a cliff in 2028 when the freeze expires.
- By excluding the additional amounts paid under the delay from future adjustment calculations, the bill may create a permanent baseline increase in home health payments, shifting long-term Medicare costs upward.
- The two-year freeze may mask deteriorating home health agency finances, delaying necessary consolidation or operational reform until after the 2026 election cycle.
Who it affects
Seniors and disabled beneficiaries may benefit from continued home health access if payment cuts would have forced service reductions or closures. However, the bill provides no permanent solution, shifts costs to Medicare (and ultimately taxpayers), and may delay necessary efficiency reforms. The two-year delay is a temporary patch, not a fix.
Who stands to gain
- home health agencies
- home health service providers
- home health staffing companies
Named in the bill
Medicare, Social Security Act Section 1895, HH PPS (Home Health Prospective Payment System), CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services), HUM (Humana), HOLX (Hologic), MRK (Merck)
Where it stands
21 cosponsors: 12 Democrats, 9 Republicans.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 4, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
6 lobbying clients named this bill on 7 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $4,790,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 82% of bills with at least one filing.
Kevin Hern, the sponsor, reported $2,075,651 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Hospital Association — $4,470,000 on 1 filing
- Bayada Hearts for Homecare — $100,000 on 2 filings
- Brightspring Health Services — $80,000 on 1 filing
- National Alliance for Care at Home — $60,000 on 1 filing
- National Alliance for Care at Home — $60,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jun 8, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress delays Medicare home health cuts—but only for two years” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5142 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.