Batch,
You insist on trying to scare people with a distorted picture of the new policies - you really should be ashamed of yourself. But of course, you are hysterical and delusional when it comes to certain hot button topics - it is probably unfair of me to expect you to engage in a rational, non-partisan discussion. But for the sake of others, I'll try.
Quote:Can you explain how this is possible when there is no cure for most COPD and the chart clearly shows a percent reduction in beneficiaries each year? (Do they die waiting for oxygen?)
Well, the financial model could include a decrease that approximates the predicted death of people with COPD - but no one else is talking about masses of people dying from being denied oxygen, and you are irresponsible to do so. The big reduction in 'beneficiaries' or people getting payments is due to the fact that in the first year, all those who have had a machine for 3 or 4 years will not be paid for - as far as medicare is concerned, the device has been paid for.
Quote:What you've cleverly avoided with this truth, is the reduction in Medicare beneficiaries receiving DME-Oxygen over the 5 year period as illustrated in the chart...
No, it isn't just oxygen concentrators that get put on lower payments and for only 3 years, it is all oxygen equipment. The suppliers are being held responsible for providing service after they have collected nice profits for 3 years.
Quote:In the case of
all oxygen equipment furnished after the 36-month rental cap, the supplier is responsible for performing any repairs or maintenance and servicing of the equipment that is necessary to ensure that the equipment is in good working order for the remainder of the reasonable useful lifetime of the equipment.
The 36-month cap applies to stationary and portable oxygen equipment furnished on or after January 1, 2006; therefore, the 36-month cap may end as early as January 1, 2009, for beneficiaries using oxygen equipment on a continuous basis since January 1, 2006
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To be honest, these rules are thick and convoluted. I can't say for sure that some of the changes won't result in some inconvenience or increased copays for individuals - I am not going to trace each and every possible effect. But it is clear that your interpretation is not in agreement with reality.
Quote:Despite enormous buying power, Medicare pays far more. Rather than buy oxygen equipment outright, Medicare rents it for 36 months before patients take ownership, and pays for a variety of services that critics say are often unnecessary.
The total cost to taxpayers and patients is as much as $8,280, or more than double what somebody might spend at a drugstore. The high expense of oxygen equipment — which cost Medicare over $1.8 billion last year — is hardly an anomaly.
For example, last year Medicare spent more than $21 million on pumps to help older and disabled men attain erections, paying about $450 for the same device that is available online for as little as $108.
These widespread price discrepancies, including those for oxygen services, have been noted in dozens of regulatory reports.
But when officials and politicians have tried to cut these costs, they have often encountered a powerful foe: the companies that sell these devices, who ask their elderly customers to serve, in effect, as unpaid lobbyists, calling and writing to their representatives in Congress, protesting at rallies, and even participating in political attacks against individual lawmakers who take on the issue.
“These industries rely on a basic threat: If you mess with us, we can turn the seniors against you,” said former Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, who tried cutting Medicare payments while he was in Congress. “Angering seniors is the quickest route to political suicide.”
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I suggest that you are being a tool, Batch, and your purpose is not provide a better system, but to protect the excess profits of the companies and keep overcharging the US taxpayer.
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