Congressional Outlook

Against the backdrop of war, Congress is trying to go about its regular business. At this writing, both houses are working to pass budget resolutions for 2004. Fortunately, the House of Representatives' budget resolution, which originally called for severe cuts in Medicare, has been modified so that Medicare is protected. This favorable change came about as a result of the strident protests of health care providers and suppliers, including the American Association for Homecare and its members.

Although the nearly evenly divided Senate just passed a budget resolution, whether that resolution can be reconciled successfully with the House version is questionable. However, whether or not a budget resolution is finally enacted, and no matter what that resolution contains, we can expect Congress to attempt to reduce payments to home care providers and suppliers.

For example, Congress remains intent on enacting a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. The projected cost of this legislation is more than $400 billion over a 10-year period. Consequently, there is no question that Congress will be looking for savings, and most providers will be fighting against reduced or, at best, frozen reimbursements.

Although the war is likely to become more distracting, we are relatively certain that Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, will move a prescription drug benefit bill through the House this summer. Although such a bill has not been drafted at this time, we see clear indications that Rep. Thomas will include provisions to establish a national competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment and to eliminate the market basket increases and rural add-on for home health.

On the other hand, Congressional observers in Washington are skeptical that the divided Senate, consumed with war and tax issues, will be able to move a Medicare bill this year. Nonetheless, we cannot afford to sit back and watch.

Competitive Bidding Update

At AAHomecare, we continue to work with the Coalition for Access to Medical Services, Equipment and Technology, or CAMSET, to educate members of Congress about the problems presented by national competitive bidding. Last month, we had dozens of meetings with legislators on both the House and Senate sides of Capitol Hill.