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

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

I just got a Medicare Summary Notice with oxygen claims including onethat was paid under the medicare bid program which was to be in effectJuly 1 and then subsequently was delayed. I found the amountsinteresting because the only numbers as to how much the bidding wascutting prices I had before were across the board.The Medicare rate for my oxygen per month is $231.07The Medicare bid rate would have been only $175.58So the cut was 24%. Think about that during a period gas prices haveincreased so and other costs are going up. I just feel that the currentrate of $231.07 is reasonable and a cut would have been very bad aswould 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 flySo, I think of the Stationary unit in the following way. Lets assign avalue of $45 for the rent of the Reservoir. Now, we get to the fillingof 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 andtaking it out and filling then putting it back in place. I just hope wedon't see future attempts at cutting the pay for such.And don't forget the supplier gets nothing for travel equipment. I'veused a travel reservoir 6 times so far this year and had it for a totalof 10 weeks. Or what if I had made four air trips for a total of sixweeks. Think of those values they would have gotten nothing for.Just keeping in perspective what was averted but also a reminder to allof us how little some providers including doctors are paid by medicareand insurance. I'd advise everyone to look at what some of their doctorsactually get for an exam. It's a lot less than you might expect.