HME ‘Very, Very Vulnerable’ as Debt Talks Drag On

WASHINGTON — As the Aug 2. debt ceiling deadline creeps
closer, President Obama and congressional leaders continue to
debate the issue, and industry stakeholders continue to watch and
worry that cuts to HME remain on the table.

A “grand” deal to reduce the deficit and raise the debt ceiling
seems to have left the building in weekend talks. As part of the
deal, press reports said, Obama was ready to raise the Medicare
eligibility age in exchange for a raft of new revenues. The
president had previously proposed applying DME competitive bidding
rates to Medicaid.

But Democrats don’t want the president, or anybody, messing with
the entitlement programs, and Republicans say raising taxes isn’t
an option. At a press conference yesterday, Obama said of the
budget talks, “It’s time to pull off the band-aid, eat our
peas.”

What will happen as the economic calamity looms and the
high-level talks focus on health care spending is anybody’s guess,
according to Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government
relations for Invacare.

“There are really very few people involved in making these
decisions,” Bachenheimer said Friday. “We’re not sure what will
turn out.”

Even so, as the discussions go on, “there are numerous reports
that home medical equipment is vulnerable to further hits from both
Republicans and Democrats,” AAHomecare told members last week.

Any new cuts “would come on top of a decade of slashing that has
totaled between 40 to 50 percent for the home medical equipment
sector,” the association reported. “Further reductions to Medicare
payments before the current cuts are fully in effect will create
access and quality issues and weaken the home care infrastructure
in the United States.”

Call senators and representatives and “Tell Congress ‘No cuts to
home care!’” AAHomecare urged providers.

Stakeholders in other health care sectors are worried, too.
Hospitals have begun a national ad campaign protesting any payment
cuts and showing how they could result in overcrowded emergency
rooms and reduced access. A July 4 article in The New York Times said a
hospital coalition would spend up to $1 million a week through the
summer on the ads. Nursing homes and drugmakers are also braced for
cuts.

“I think it’s safe to assume that we are very, very vulnerable,”
said Bachenheimer. “But so is everybody else.”