Unless Congress acts, people on Medicare who need wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment will soon have a harder time getting the equipment they need.
- New Medicare program threatens ability to freely choose where to get your power wheel chair
- You may be forced to go to a supplier that is far away from where you live and may not have the same choices of power wheel chairs that you now have
- Congressional action is needed if the program is to be changed
In an effort to help stop fraud and save Medicare money, Congress passed legislation that requires suppliers of durable medical equipment (DME), including but not limited to diabetic supplies and oxygen as well as power wheelchairs, to bid for contracts to sell to people on Medicare. Once suppliers in a given metropolitan area are selected, Medicare will only pay for DME from those suppliers.
The program is slated to go into effect on January 11, 2010, in ten metropolitan areas and then spread throughout the country. (For a full explanation of the program, go to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DMEPOSCompetitiveBid/01_overview.asp.)
Under the competitive bidding program, people with disabilities will have fewer suppliers to choose from and fewer choices of equipment (i.e. power wheel chairs). It is possible that users of wheelchairs and other DME will be required to travel far distances and experience long wait times in order to obtain items that are now readily obtainable through their local and trusted DME suppliers.
We are working closely with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to make implementation of competitive bidding go as smoothly as possible for people with disabilities.
We are also pleased to see a bill by Congressman Kendrick Meeks (D-FL), HR 3790, to stop the competitive bidding program altogether. Only if Congress acts will the program be stopped and people on Medicare be allowed to continue to go to any Medicare-approved supplier for their DME needs.
How will the bidding program affect you? Your stories of the hardships you will suffer if you lose access to your existing suppliers are the strongest argument to stop the Medicare DME competitive bidding program. Please feel free to post your story below. If you’d like us to share your story with your representative in Congress, please give us your 9-digit zip code or your full address and we’ll take it from there.
We also encourage you to send your story to your own Congressman/woman of why continued access to your supplier is important. Go to www.house.gov, look up your member of Congress and find his/her phone or e-mail. Then make your voice heard on this important issue for users of DME.
Andrew Morris, MPH
Director of Legislation,
Spinal Cord Advocates
Getting a wheelchair from Medicare has never been an easy process. Implementing competitive bidding will only make access worse. Right now it is difficult to impossible to get maintance or repairs services from the supplier that sold you the chair. Options on types or accessories are already limited and I wonder if there will be a choice or access to wheelchairs and accessories once this program goes nation wide!
DITTO, BY 10 FOLD ON LET ALONE SECUREING THE PROPER WHEEL CHAIR NOW, LET ALONE THE CURRENT LEED TIME. [A LONG TIME IIS RELATIVE WHEN YOUR ONLY MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION TO FROM BED, TO EAT, TO GO TO THE REST ROOM, TO BATH, TO SHOP, TO GO TO DR., TO PHARMACY ON AND ON] LET ALONE IF YOUR POWER CHAIR GOES DOWN, IT IS NOTHING TO WAIT 2 - 5 WEEKS, STILL HAVING TO PAY HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS THE CO. PAY. CURENTLY LIVING IN JACKSONVILLE, FL. COULD ONLY FIND A NATIONAL REPAIR SERVICE THAT WOULD COME TO MOME, OFFICE IN LA, CA.
NOW WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY GOING TO DO TO US.????
i live in central new hamsphire, i am a quadiplehic in a wheelechair. this bill will negitively impact every wheelechair user ”quality of life”. i know this is a strong statement but let me explain. in nh we have many 6-7 medical suppliers that supply wheelechairs and these companies are not ALL equal. believe me i’ve used 4 companies in the last 8 years. presently i am on my second electric wheelechair.
professionally i worked in hospital and humanam service field for 25 before my disablity, i was very knowledgeabout about insurances practices, qualification of state and federal services for people in need. i never thought i be on the other ”needy” recieving side but i am. the reality is price of the wheelechair is just one componet of purchasing and it is not concern when purchasing. the first does the company have
* a repair service policy that will proitize a quadipelegic
wheelechair repairs when it broken and the chair does not move. this has happen to me. a quad can be patience for 1-3 days and put their life on hold but 5days, a week etc. is unexceptable and do they have qualified wheelechair tech or are they just ”jack of all repairs” and have just learned on the job (which i have experienced. then after you know, (by personal contract and checking their reputation), policy and creditials of tech then the price should be considered. the danager with the government just looking at the bottom line of money the consumer gets a wheelechair from a company that make the big profit on the sale of wheelechair but does not provide the consumer the service they need for years in the future. so the cheaper company cuts the chair by 3, 5, 8 hundred dollars but the company does not have the proirity repair service or quality tech. but the government medicare offices don’t get involved with consumer issues after the purchase.
how does this effect the ”quality of life”. well as a active quad i drive, i work and i live by myself. when my chair breaks down i need service in a timely matter and i need to know the quality of tech can fix it right the first time and the company has the organizational operating capicity to order parts correctly and quickly. my first chair that was arranged by my the rehab hospital i was getting discharge from. the company was hours away from my community, and did not care about follow up services. i had to change company since there were two providers within an hour of my home.
the mental frustration stress financial loss of losing income, paying more money for helper because i need them to be avaiable to help me due to my limited mobility due to a broken chair. when i needed to get a second chair i took matter into my own hand i researched chair models, the chairs features, consumer report of repairs history of those models, then i sent out my own bids to companies in nh. i asked questions on their repair service policy, their policy in ordering chair parts. this allowed me justify my choice of wheelechair on service, accessiblity to me and then price.