Medicare figures it can save money by getting vendors to submit competitive bids for products like walkers, wheelchairs, hospital beds, and respiratory equipment.

I believe this will only drive down service and equipment.

Congress needs to be made aware that this will not help patient's get the quality care they deserve.

Competitive bidding for medical equipment is set to start in 10 cities in July and expand to 70 more cities next year. 

A similar plan to bring competitive bidding to lab tests was recently put on hold in San Diego, when a judge agreed that the shift could harm patient care.

I believe the same will result, if this is the direction our healthcare industry is heading.

There are “serious flaws” in Medicare’s proposed competitive bidding approach, which could drive some vendors out of business. Pete Stark, a California Democrat who chairs the health subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, says he’d “like to see the whole thing scrapped.”

I SECOND THAT!

In the beginning of April 2008, I wrote a letter to congressman Patrick J. Murphy (Serving Pennsylvania's 8th District) to express my concerns and to hear his view points on this issue.


Andy Scolnick, VP