Visits to the doctor often leave Katherine Beatty feeling sicker than when she left home...

Beatty is part of a Medicare experiment to see if old-fashioned house calls can improve the health of some of the agency's sickest beneficiaries while saving taxpayers money.

If the three-year pilot project in California and two other states is successful, Medicare officials likely would try the service on a larger scale before asking Congress to make it a permanent part of the federal government's health care program for the elderly and disabled...

Politics also will play a role in determining the program's fate, said Peter Harbage, a Sacramento health care consultant and former assistant secretary with the California Health and Human Services Agency.

“It fundamentally depends on whether it can get through Congress,” he said. “It has to do with money -- who gets paid and how much. Hospitals, doctors and insurers will aggressively express their point of view...”

For the complete article, please visit The San Diego Union Tribune website.