How I Spent My Summer Vacation

We’d had the reservations for months. My whole family was getting together. We’d picked out a great condo right on the beach. We would be there to watch the fireworks sparkle down on the waves July 4. Did I mention we were headed to the Gulf?

There was the oil spill, but what’s a little oil, we said? Then Hurricane Alex kicked up, but what’s a little wind, we said? Besides, my favorite Parrothead Jimmy Buffett was giving a free concert on the beach for 35,000 of his closest friends, and we were lucky enough to score tickets.

Then CMS ditched a reported June 25 deadline for release of the Round 1 bid rates, and my summer vacation suddenly went south. I spent the entire drive there checking every voice message and email. I sat in the condo glued to my laptop for the next several days so I wouldn’t miss the announcement when CMS made it.

Outside, oil had hit the pristine sands, and cleanup workers, some in Hazmat suits, were sweeping and shoveling 24/7. Buckets of water laced with Dawn were a new fixture on every set of beach steps so people could scrub their feet. Miles of boom had been strung. Restaurants were 50 percent down, their managers said, and hotel parking lots were empty at the height of the season. Coastal fishing was closed, and seafood was being imported from elsewhere.

People and businesses were hurting. I was saddened, frustrated and angry. I couldn’t figure out which emotion should get top billing. We had been vacationing in the same beautiful place for years, but we knew it would be forever changed.

I asked AAHomecare’s Mike Reinemer if he knew exactly when the rate announcement would come so I could at least share a little beach time with the cleanup crew, and I described what was going on among the tarballs. The association was waiting, too, he said, and he drew this parallel with competitive bidding: “The HME sector is like the fishing community down in the Gulf — watching a sort of slow-motion, man-made catastrophe ebbing toward us, knowing that it’s going to destroy a way of life for many dedicated folks.”

CMS finally held a press conference on the rates July 1, and I dialed in on my cell phone, which kept cutting out with the spotty beach reception. But when I caught the words “32 percent savings,” I wished I hadn’t.

That cut, much deeper than anyone expected, will certainly destroy many Round 1 companies, and if the bidding program continues, many more. Thousands of jobs could be lostin this industry, too, and beneficiaries are bound to have problems with access, quality of equipment and service. Medicare is about people, after all. I got sad and angry all over again.

This definitely wasn’t the vacation I had envisioned. It apparently wasn’t the week that Jimmy Buffett had thought about either; he postponed his concert until after we left because of the hurricane, and we gave up our tickets. But I did find some wisdom in an interview he gave. He said it’s normal for people to be mad when they see oil washing up on the beaches.

“If you’re born and raised on the Gulf Coast and it’s kind of in you, and you don’t feel anger and rage initially over what’s going on down there, I think you’re a hypocrite,” Jimmy told The Associated Press. “That’s the way I felt. Now, what you do with that is a big question.”

It’s a good question for those connected to HME as well. Being Jimmy, what he did, of course, was to throw a big party at the oil slick. Most of us don’t have that kind of influence, but what we can do is tell others what’s happening to this industry. Competitive bidding will change home care forever, and not for the better. If you’re as frustrated about the program as I am, then let your legislators know.