Drug store association opposes more competitive bidding

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores recently sent a letter to Sen. Max Baucus opposing any effort by the House-Senate Conference Committee working on the so-called “doc fix” bill to include more diabetic testing supplies under Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program. Mail-order diabetic testing supplies already are being included in the program under a national auction, and the association is concerned that politicians will be tempted further use competitive bidding as a way take money being spent on testing supplies and use it to fix the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate for physician fees. The association noted that politicians might try to include supplies sold in retail outlets in competitive bidding or extend prices established by competitive bidding to the retail drug store market.