Washington -- Elimination of the 15 percent reduction to the Medicare home health benefit might soon become a reality, as the Senate voted 99-1 in April to eliminate the cut.

Under the legislation, introduced to the Senate in March by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, $13.7 billion would be put into a special fund to counteract the savings that would be realized if the cut does go into effect as scheduled on Oct. 1, 2002.

"The statistics tell the story," said Collins on the Senate floor. "The combinations of cutbacks in Medicare payments and the onerous regulations imposed by the Clinton administration have cost some 900,000 Medicare patients -- often our most frail and vulnerable senior citizens, as well as those citizens with considerable disabilities -- to lose access to their home health care.

"If [the 15 percent cut] does go into effect, it will have a devastating impact that will further jeopardize access to home health services for our senior citizens," she said.

At press time in April, a companion bill -- H.R. 975 -- was still moving through the House of Representatives.