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Senate Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee published an 81-page request for information on Oct. 16, seeking input on expanding home care and long-term care benefits through Medicare and Medicaid. The RFI follows an August bill proposing a Medicare Part B home care benefit, but it does not establish coverage or specify that lawmakers will advance legislation.
Senate Finance Committee Democrats published an 81-page request for information on Oct. 16, seeking input on how Medicare and Medicaid could cover home care and long-term care. The inquiry marks a new step in lawmakers’ consideration of a potential home care benefit, but does not itself create coverage or commit Congress to passing a bill.
The RFI asks for views on what a possible benefit could include and how it might fit into existing health care programs, provider networks and the broader care system. The report says it also addresses ways to expand home and long-term care, respond to caregiver workforce shortages, and make eligibility and services more consistent across the country.
The request follows the introduction in August of the Medicare At Home Act, which would add a home care benefit to Medicare Part B. As described in the report, the bill would cover assistance with activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, including meal preparation and light housekeeping. The RFI is a separate information-gathering effort; the source report does not say it adopts or advances the bill.
Industry groups say they plan to respond. Patrick Harrison, vice president of policy and legislative affairs for the National Alliance for Care at Home, told Home Health Care News that the Alliance intends to work with lawmakers and submit comments. The Home Care Association of America also welcomed the inquiry and said it would contribute member experience and recommendations.
Designing Coverage Around Care at Home
The inquiry puts practical questions about access, affordability and delivery before lawmakers as they consider whether federal programs should cover more support at home. Any eventual benefit could affect people who need help with daily tasks, their families, home care agencies and the workers providing services. At this stage, those effects are possibilities, not established policy outcomes.
Provider capacity is one of the central concerns raised in the report. HCAOA CEO Jason Lee said that expanding coverage would require more capacity and argued that a benefit should account for caregiver wages, training, benefits and compensation. He also called for protections for smaller community-based providers and for safeguards against fraud and abuse. Those are industry recommendations, not terms confirmed as part of a proposed federal benefit.
The RFI also gives lawmakers a way to gather input on how a new benefit might fit with existing Medicare and Medicaid arrangements. That matters because a policy’s practical reach would depend not only on eligibility and covered services, but also on whether providers and caregivers can deliver them. The document raises those design issues; it does not resolve them.
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From August Bill to October Inquiry
The legislative effort described in the report has two distinct developments. In August 2026, lawmakers introduced the Medicare At Home Act, a proposal to add specified forms of assistance to Medicare Part B. On Oct. 16, 2026, Senate Finance Committee Democrats published the RFI to solicit input on home care and long-term care benefits under Medicare and Medicaid.
The National Alliance for Care at Home represents a network of more than 2 million professionals across home health, Medicaid home- and community-based services, hospice, palliative care and other home care fields, according to the report. HCAOA represents more than 5,000 home care agencies, the report says. Both organizations’ comments would reflect provider-sector perspectives; the source does not describe them as the only participants invited to respond.
“As part of the dialogue, this RFI raises important questions about strategies to make services more affordable and accessible, strengthen the caregiving workforce and give individuals and families meaningful choices about how and where they receive care.”
— Jason Lee, CEO of the Home Care Association of America, speaking to Home Health Care News
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Coverage Details Remain Undecided
The RFI is a request for information, not a final benefit design or enacted law. The source report does not provide the full submission deadline, identify all questions in the 81-page document, or say whether the committee will draft legislation in response. It also does not specify the possible benefit’s eligibility rules, covered hours or services, payment rates, funding source, or relationship to the August bill.
It remains unclear whether lawmakers from both parties will support a proposal, how responses will shape future legislation, and how any expansion would be staffed and financed. Provider groups have proposed workforce investment and safeguards, but those proposals have not been confirmed as requirements in a federal plan.
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Responses Could Shape Further Proposals
The Alliance and HCAOA have said they plan to submit comments or recommendations, adding provider perspectives to the RFI process. The next confirmed step is the collection and consideration of responses; the report does not give a deadline or a date for committee action.
Readers should watch for the committee’s response to submissions and any subsequent bill or policy proposal. Until lawmakers publish those details or enact legislation, the scope, funding, eligibility and timing of a Medicare or Medicaid home care benefit remain unsettled.
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Key Questions
What did Senate Finance Committee Democrats publish?
They published an 81-page request for information on Oct. 16, 2026, seeking input on home care and long-term care benefits under Medicare and Medicaid.
Does the RFI create a Medicare home care benefit?
No. An RFI gathers information and views; it does not establish coverage. The source report does not say that Congress has passed a home care benefit.
How does the RFI relate to the Medicare At Home Act?
The Act was introduced in August and would add certain daily-living assistance to Medicare Part B. The October RFI is a separate inquiry into possible home care and long-term care policies; the report does not say the inquiry advances or adopts the bill.
What issues does the inquiry raise?
The report describes questions about covered services, access, affordability, provider networks, workforce shortages, consistent eligibility and services, and how expanded care could fit into existing programs.
What happens after the RFI?
Industry groups say they intend to submit comments. The report does not specify a submission deadline or the committee’s next action, so any later legislation and its timing remain unknown.
Source: rss
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