Urgent Action Needed – Contact Your Senators Immediately About the Flawed Competitive Bidding Program for Durable Medical Equipment. (Oxygen, CPAP’s, Hospital Beds, and More!)
Courtesy Choice Medical Equipment, Denton LIVING WELL Magazine
While bipartisan support continues to grow in the House to stop the competitive bidding program, the Senate has failed to take action. It is imperative that you contact both of your U.S. Senators to describe the problems with the Medicare bidding program for home medical equipment and services and request that they support legislation to stop or repeal the program. Let your senators know the devastating effect that “suicide bidding” will have on you and other Medicare beneficiaries.
The bidding program will affect 43 states for rounds one and two but ultimately it will affect millions of Medicare beneficiaries in every state by severely restricting the number of providers allowed to serve beneficiaries and by drastically cutting reimbursement rates.
Congress Must Eliminate the Anti-Competitive Bidding Program in Medicare
It Sacrifices Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities
Competitive bidding restricts access to and choice of HME items and services.
It will trigger a race to the bottom in terms of quality. Less expensive items will be provided to patients. With fewer providers, expedient deliveries of items and services will be eliminated and Medicare costs will increase.
Twenty-eight consumer groups support repealing the flawed competitive bidding program.
The Program Is a Job Killer, and It Is Anti-Competitive
The bid program is anti-competitive. It reduces the number of competitors.
Eight to 90% of HME service providers would have been barred from the Medicare program in the first round of bidding.
It has been estimated that this program will result in approximately 100,000 job losses nationwide.
Not Cost-Effective, Not a Solution for Health Care
The bidding program will increase Medicare costs. It disrupts the continuum and coordination of care between doctors, discharge planners, patients, and HME providers.
It will lead to longer, more expensive hospital stays and more physician office visits, nursing home admissions, and emergency room visits.
Please feel free to call Don at Choice Medical Equipment at 940-380-0455 to discuss how competitive bidding will affect you. You may also use the link (competitive bidding concerns) on our website at www.choicemedicalequipment.net.
