WASHINGTON--HME champion Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt about cuts to the sector during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday on President Bush's 2009 budget proposal.
Roberts' remarks condemned proposals that would reduce the current oxygen rental cap from 36 to 13 months and eliminate the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs.
"I agree that we need to return to a policy of fiscal responsibility and get a handle on the growth in Medicare and Medicaid spending so these programs are viable and sustainable for future generations," Roberts said. "However, I certainly do not want to be in the business of tying the hands of our health care providers, especially those in our rural areas, and ultimately harming our seniors and low-income populations by restricting their access to care."
Roberts told Leavitt he was "disappointed" the budget calls for further reduction in the oxygen rental period, and said he was particularly concerned about the effects of competitive bidding.
"Home oxygen patients and providers are already about to undergo tremendous change in the next 10 months due to the implementation of the competitive bidding program, which has created confusion and exasperation among home health providers," Roberts said. "In fact, we are still waiting to hear from CMS on how many contracts were awarded for round one of the program--even though CMS has announced plans to move to round two in 70 more cities later this year without any evidence of success--or failure!"
Roberts said he was going on record to oppose reductions to oxygen reimbursement and other cuts to home care until Congress can review the impact of existing Medicare regulations, including the effects of competitive bidding, describing the current squeeze on HME providers as "a perfect storm."
"What worries me is that you won't have enough home care providers to even have Medicare," he told Leavitt.
Leavitt, however, said competitive bidding would save more than 20 percent across all the product categories in round one and described the bidding program as the "fair way" to reduce DME prices in Medicare.
During the hearing, committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said the proposed budget's overall Medicare spending reduction "smacks of the meat-ax."
"You've asked for huge Draconian cuts, which this Congress is not going to make," Baucus said. "We're not going to solve the problem [of growing health care costs] by just whacking the bejeebies out of Medicare."
View a press release on Sen. Roberts' remarks at the hearing.