42 HME Champions Set to Depart Congress in New Term

WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 3, 2020)—Forty-two legislators who co-sponsored home medical equipment industry priority legislation or endorsed an industry supported sign-on letter in the 116th Congress will not be returning when the new session convenes in January 2021. The departing legislators include three Senators and 39 House members who did not win re-election this November, retired or had left Congress earlier in the term.

The numbers include 15 of the 83 House members co-sponsoring HR 2771 and 26 of the 180 House members who joined a sign-on letter that helped convince the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to remove non-invasive ventilators (NIV) from Round 2021 of the bidding program. The complete list of HME advocates and which legislation or sign-on letters they supported can be found here.

In addition, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), who supported multiple HME priorities in the last Congress, is moving over to represent Kansas in the Senate, while Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California), who supported the Senate NIV sign-on letter, is set to become Vice President.

With more than 60 new members of Congress to take office on Jan. 3, HME advocates will have both the challenge and the opportunity to educate new lawmakers on the need for sustainable reimbursement and sensible regulatory policy for our industry, and build on the successes of 2019 and 2020.
 

—Via AAHomecare