Obama budget would extend competitive bidding to Medicaid

President Obama’s budget proposal would slash reimbursement to state Medicaid programs for beneficiaries who use home oxygen and other durable medical equipment by extending Medicare’s competitive bidding program to those programs, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness reported last week.

The center said this would cripple the ability of Medicaid beneficiaries to remain in their homes, and lead to more frequent hospital admittances and prolonged nursing home care.

The center also reported that the Congressional Budget Office’s chief Medicare cost estimator spoke at a conference co-sponsored by the University of Maryland and the National Science Foundation, and said the competitive bidding program may have to be changed. The center reported that the estimator said: “I think there is a high probability of failure in the near future. There is near certainty of failure sometime down the road.”