The Taxman Cometh

I was shocked and saddened at former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle’s admission that he hadn’t paid his taxes — $128,203 according to ABC News, owed mostly on a car-and-driver service. Mulling those endless headlines, I couldn’t help remembering meeting Daschle on a call with South Dakota provider Tim Pederson, CEO of WestMed Rehab.

Looking back, that whole summer day was something of a Washington adventure. Tim and I hiked across the Hill in the sweltering heat to get special security clearance for Daschle’s Capitol office. On the way to see South Dakota’s other legislators, we skirted the barricades set up for President Ronald Reagan’s funeral, a seven-day state affair that spanned the week. We talked with newly elected Rep. Stephanie Herseth amid a stack of move-in boxes in what turned out to be her very first meeting with a constituent.

A couple of hours in, I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels, and Tim ripped a brand new suit on a jagged pylon that went up after 9-11 outside Sen. Tim Johnson’s office building. But the effort was worth it. Daschle and his South Dakota counterparts spent what was, in lobbying visit terms, a good deal of time listening to and learning about Tim Pederson’s concerns.

“If I didn’t come to Washington,” Tim said at the time, “it would hurt much more in the long run. Operationally, it may seem wiser to most [small providers] to spend their time in the office. But if you care about the future of the industry and you want a voice in the shaping of policy, then you’ve got to get out and come to Washington and talk to the people here, because they will listen.”

A lot has changed in the years since that June day in 2004. Johnson suffered a serious illness but returned to the Senate in 2007 after months of rehab. Herseth got married and is now Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. Tim Pederson’s business has doubled. WestMed’s location on Mt. Rushmore Drive in Rapid City serves 12,000 patients, a big number for a sparsely populated state, in a 150-mile radius.

Tim has also continued his support of HME providers and their patients, currently serving as chair of AAHomecare’s Rehab and Assistive Technology Council and as president of MAMES, which covers South Dakota and six other states.

And Daschle, who lost his re-election bid in November 2004, has apparently spent more hours in a car than I can imagine.

By most accounts including Tim Pederson’s, Daschle understands the value of home care and the role this industry plays in making it possible. As for what might have been had Daschle become head of HHS, we can only speculate. We may have a new nominee by the time you read this column.

I asked Tim recently where the unexpected scenario leaves HME in getting its message out. “The one thing we can count on is that Washington will always be the epicenter of change in our society,” he said. “It’s important that we persevere.”

Educating our nation’s lawmakers about this business can be tiring and frustrating work, but that’s what we all must continue to do.

That and, of course, pay our taxes, which Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart lost no time in pointing out after Daschle’s withdrawal. “Let that be a lesson to kids out there,” he deadpanned. “Pay your taxes or you’ll never rise any higher than … treasury secretary.”