Lobbyists say Market Pricing Program still has chance this year

ride on three other possible congressional actions, said lobbyists speaking at the April 11 AAHomecare Update at Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas.

Possible vehicles for MPP include the impending Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, expiration of the Bush tax cuts and updating the physician payment formula, or so-called “doc fix.”

Lobbyists Alex Vogel and Stacey Ramp of Mehlman, Vogel and Castagnetti said those vehicles are viable options despite presidential election year politics. If the Supreme Court makes any changes to the health care reform law with its expected ruling in June, Congress will likely be forced to act on voids left in the health care system.

“Whether the whole thing falls, or the Supreme Court strips the (individual) mandate, we are going to get an opportunity because Congress is going to have to act,” Vogel said.

Additionally, a lame duck session of Congress follows the November elections, and it will have to deal with expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the doc fix formula. MPP could be attached to one of those measures.

In another Medtrade Spring event, more than 200 HME industry leaders packed the sixth annual Stand Up for HomeCare Reception to promote advocacy for their industry. The event raised $50,000. “We are changing perceptions and influencing the media and Washington, D.C.,” Tyler J. Wilson, president of AAHomecare, said during the reception. “We are making progress.”