Health Reform Passes Senate; HME Looks at Sweeping Changes

WASHINGTON — In a historic early morning vote, its first
on Christmas Eve since 1895 — and the first time both houses
of Congress have voted to assure most Americans of health coverage
— the Senate passed its massive health care reform bill.

As expected, the 60-39 vote went straight down party lines, with
all members of the Democratic Caucus voting in favor of the bill.
The $871-billion package would extend coverage to some 30 million
uninsured and require almost all Americans to purchase health
insurance.

On Monday, President Obama said the legislation would make a
“tremendous difference for families, for seniors, for businesses
and for the country as a whole.”

But Republicans are united in their opposition to the bill,
saying it would bankrupt the government. “Not even Ebenezer Scrooge
himself could devise a scheme as cruel and greedy as Democrats’
government takeover of health care,” said House Minority Leader
John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement issued shortly after this
morning’s vote.

The bill could also mean sweeping changes for the
HME industry, with provisions including expansion of Round 2 of
the competitive bidding
program, elimination of the first-month purchase option for
standard power wheelchairs and a tax on medical device
manufacturers.

According to the National Association of Independent Medical
Equipment Suppliers, “there is good, bad and ugly in this bill as
well as the House bill.”

That chamber passed its own version
of health reform in November, and buried among its provisions
is a mandate for a study of
competitive bidding for manufacturers under the Medicare
program.

“The House bill has 26 provisions that affect DME and the Senate
bill has 18. This does not include provisions that affect
businesses in general,” NAIMES reported earlier this week.

Both the House and Senate measures will now go to a joint
negotiating committee, which must reconcile the two bills into a
single piece of legislation. That melded bill must again pass both
houses of Congress before it reaches Obama’s desk. The process is
expected to begin as early as next week.

“The one certainty at this point is that no one knows what net
effect this bill will have on individuals or businesses, and we
won’t know until the final combined bill is sent to the president.
Currently, the positives or negatives depend on who is telling the
story with the Democrats touting the positives and the Republicans
the negatives,” NAIMES noted in its newsletter.

Meanwhile, the industry continues its fight against DMEPOS
competitive bidding. AAHomecare has declared the week of Jan. 4 as
“Meek Week,” and is urging all HME stakeholders to contact members
of Congress in support of H.R. 3790 to stop the bidding program.
For more, see Get Set for
Meek Week, Dec. 22.