If your Representative was a cosponsor (see list here) of H.R. 6490, MPP legislation in the 112th Congress, please contact him or her about this new legislation as soon as possible. For those members of Congress who did not cosponsor the legislation in the 112th Congress, the introduction of H.R. 1717 gives them another opportunity to support a positive, responsible, bipartisan bill that will help homecare patients nationwide. You can send a message to your legislators about the need for MPP via AAHomecare's Take Action Center.

BACKGROUND

AAHomecare, working with the HME sector and auction experts, developed a legislative proposal to fix the fundamental flaws in the current bid system.

Congress' objective in requiring Medicare to use competitive bidding to establish payment amounts for home medical equipment (HME) was to reduce Medicare and beneficiary expenditures, and ensure that beneficiaries have access to quality items and service.

This objective cannot be met because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designed a program that does not hold bidders accountable, does not ensure that bidders are qualified to provide the products in the bid markets, and produces bid rates that are financially unsustainable. 244 economic experts from around the world agree that the current Medicare bidding program is unsustainable. It will create significant barriers to access and will destroy the HME infrastructure upon which our seniors and people with disabilities rely.

AAHomecare's initiative is known as the Market Pricing Program. The proposal would require CMS to make some fundamental changes to ensure a financially sustainable program. It uses an auction system to establish market-based prices around the country. These changes are consistent with Congress' original intent: to create a program that is based on competition and market prices, while maintaining beneficiary access to quality items and services.