The following from the American Association for Homecare appeared in the organization's May 18 newsletter.
WASHINGTON — The debate about raising the debt ceiling will suck up a lot of oxygen in Congress over the months ahead. This means we will have to fight to maintain a focus on the need to repeal bidding in Washington — a city that suffers from attention as well as budget deficits.
[Last] Monday, the United States reached its debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion. The Secretary of the Treasury told Congress that he will use accounting maneuvers to extend the debt ceiling to early August. If the debt ceiling is not raised then, the federal government could default on its loans and trigger alarm in the world's financial markets. Both the White House and the House Republican leadership have plans to address the debt ceiling and make significant cuts in federal spending, but the plans differ dramatically. The White House plan cuts $4 trillion in spending over 12 years through discretionary spending reductions and repeal of some Bush-era tax cuts. The House Republican plan cuts $6.2 trillion of federal spending mainly through reduced spending and entitlement reform, which includes fundamental changes to the Medicare program.
While legislation to increase the debt ceiling will likely pass, the debate will consume time and attention of House and Senate members. To keep Congress on track to repeal suicide bidding, the HME sector will keep the issue front and center.
If you have not contacted your senators and/or representative about the fatally flawed bid program, you should do so immediately. You can reach your senators and representative by phone by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202/224-3121. To email your federal legislators, go to www.capwiz.com/aahomecare.
If your representative has cosponsored H.R. 1041, take time to thank the legislator for supporting HME providers and patients. This provides the opportunity to ask the member of Congress to raise support to the next level by contacting Senate colleagues about repeal.
If you have any feedback from your senators or your representative, please provide the information to AAHomecare so our staff can follow up with the congressional offices. Please contact Jay Witter at jayw@aahomecare.org with specific feedback.
View more comepetitive bidding stories.