Las Vegas
The industry's hard push on the Hobson-Tanner bill continues.
As of press time, the bill had 92 co-sponsors and another six verbal commitments, according to Pride Mobility's Wayne Grau, who is leading a nationwide effort to boost support for the measure. About 100 to 105 co-sponsors are needed in order to have the Senate write a companion bill, he said.
Since passage of the Deficit Reduction Act, which contains a 36-month rental cap on home oxygen equipment, “we're seeing more and more dealers getting involved — and that's what needs to happen,” Grau said.
Grau has been traveling the country to educate lawmakers about the Hobson-Tanner bill and the meetings are having positive results, he said, especially when he is accompanied by local providers.
The lawmakers “want to know how [competitive bidding] is going to hurt their constituents and hurt the patients in their district, and they want to hear from local businesses on how it is going to hurt them. It really gets the point across that it's not just one person that's unhappy about this — it's the whole industry,” Grau said.
