WASHINGTON, June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Providers
of durable medical equipment and services (DME) required in the
home have called on President Obama to repeal Medicare’s
controversial “competitive” bidding for homecare, which cuts
quality and access to care for seniors and people with
disabilities.
The program is opposed by the American Association for
Homecare and by dozens of patient advocacy groups such as the
ALS
Association and the
American Association of People with Disabilities. In addition,
244 economists recently asked the President to reconsider the
bidding program. And so far, 132 members of the House of
Representatives have cosponsored H.R. 1041, a bipartisan bill to
repeal the program. Homecare providers are urging the President to
support that legislation.
In efforts to cut federal spending, federal lawmakers have
introduced a series of Medicare reforms over the years. The new
bidding program aims to cut Medicare costs by targeting home
medical equipment and services, which is a cost-effective yet tiny
slice of the Medicare budget (less than 1.5 percent) that has seen
reimbursement rates slashed repeatedly over the past 10 years.
The legislation to repeal the bidding program was introduced
after hundreds of patients and providers reported problems with the
program in the wake of its January 1 implementation. As
designed by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS), the bidding program severely and arbitrarily restricts the
number of companies that are allowed to provide commonly used
medical equipment and services. Since the program began,
patients, clinicians, and homecare providers have reporte
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