HME Business

Despite the Senate's clear support of H.R. 6331 in yesterday's vote to approve the delay to national competitive bidding, President Bush will veto the bill, according to White House Deputy Communications Director Tony Fratto, who spoke at a Washington, D.C., press conference today.

Fratto said the President intends to veto the legislation because it would mean cuts to the Medicare Advantage plan.

"What became an issue was how the Senate and how the Congress chose to pay for this bill, and the way they did it was to make very steep cuts in the Medicare Advantage plan," Fratto said. "Our view has always been that we trust consumers to make smart choices. We want to make sure that they have the information and that they have choices. Taking choices away from seniors in order to pay for the reimbursement for physicians is the wrong way to pass this bill and to extend the reimbursements that we want to see physicians get.”

Fratto said the White House estimates 2 million seniors would "drop off" the program if the bill became law.

Yesterday, the Senate voted by a 69 to 30 margin to approve a cloture motion to cease debate over H.R. 6331, and because of a rule for the cloture vote, the two-thirds approval vote also meant that the Senate passed the underlying bill.

H.R. 6331 proposes to delay implementation of national competitive bidding by between 18 and 24 months, with the HME industry paying for the delay via 9.5 percent price cuts to DME and services covered by competitive bidding, except for oxygen and power wheelchairs.

The bill has now gone to the President, who must either veto H.R. 6331 or sign the bill into law. The Medical Equipment Suppliers Association reports that if the president vetoes H.R. 6331 by this weekend, the legislation would go back to the floor in both the House and the Senate as soon as July 15.