Pricing on medicare bid program would have been.....

[Guest guest]

I just got a Medicare Summary Notice with oxygen claims including one

that was paid under the medicare bid program which was to be in effect

July 1 and then subsequently was delayed. I found the amounts

interesting because the only numbers as to how much the bidding was

cutting prices I had before were across the board.

The Medicare rate for my oxygen per month is $231.07

The Medicare bid rate would have been only $175.58

So the cut was 24%. Think about that during a period gas prices have

increased so and other costs are going up. I just feel that the current

rate of $231.07 is reasonable and a cut would have been very bad as

would have been cutting out all but 35 out of over 250 DFW providers.

What I get for $231.07:

-Liquid Reservoir in home. Refilled weekly. $199.28

-Helios Marathon portable. $31.79

-Use of a travel reservoir when needed.

-Use of a travel concentrator if I decided to fly

So, I think of the Stationary unit in the following way. Lets assign a

value of $45 for the rent of the Reservoir. Now, we get to the filling

of it. In an average month it is filled 4 1/3 times. That means they get

$35.60 for each fill. This is to cover the equipment in their facility,

filling the tanks in their trucks, driving, getting my reservoir and

taking it out and filling then putting it back in place. I just hope we

don't see future attempts at cutting the pay for such.

And don't forget the supplier gets nothing for travel equipment. I've

used a travel reservoir 6 times so far this year and had it for a total

of 10 weeks. Or what if I had made four air trips for a total of six

weeks. Think of those values they would have gotten nothing for.

Just keeping in perspective what was averted but also a reminder to all

of us how little some providers including doctors are paid by medicare

and insurance. I'd advise everyone to look at what some of their doctors

actually get for an exam. It's a lot less than you might expect.