The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) reported that H.R. 1041 – the bipartisan bill to repeal Medicare’s competitive bidding program – had gained 53 co-sponsors in its first 20 days.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) and Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.).
AAHomecare quoted Altmire as saying he had expected problems would arise once competitive bidding went into effect, which happened at the start of the year. “Now that it has happened, we have a demonstrable negative impact to this, and I think that’s going to help the case for repeal,” Altmire said, according to AAHomecare.
AAHomecare added that Thompson said he is “hopeful we’ll get as much if not more traction” for H.R. 1041 versus the support for H.R. 3790, the repeal bill that was before the previous Congress.
Click HERE to go to AAHomecare’s Save Homecare campaign site.
Click HERE to see the list of current H.R. 1041 co-sponsors, and to see if your representative is currently backing the bill.
AAHomecare’s bulletin also urged providers and other stakeholders to call the Capitol switchboard (202-224-3121) to ask representatives to sign on as cosponsors.
At Medtrade Spring, AAHomecare will be staffing the “H.R. 1041 Command Center” in booth 2419, complete with computers to e-mail messages to members of Congress. AAHomecare will also be distributing issue papers and other resources for stakeholders to use in the ongoing effort to repeal competitive bidding.
