the newly-formed Sleep Manufacturers Alliance at work

MaskedMechanic · Post by **MaskedMechanic** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:52 pm

Here is a letter from this alliance to Medicare regarding CPAP and CPAP patients.

http://www.hhcdealer.com/newsletters.php?idnews=768

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:14 pm

ok cool, but what's your point please?

jkeene · Post by **jkeene** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:43 pm

Just a guess, but this sentence leaped out at me:

... the newly-formed Sleep Manufacturers Alliance called CPAP “not an appropriate category for competitive bidding."

First paragraph of their news release, and they're advocating anti-consumer behavior.

MaskedMechanic · Post by **MaskedMechanic** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 3:55 pm

Hello Mr. Guest. There are many on this forum who are interested in what the sleep treatment manufacturers are doing in their alliance. I posted a press release on their recent actions relating to competitive bidding of CPAP within the Medicare system. The Alliance is generally opposed and have made many points. I did not comment as I was bringing news to the forum, not opinion. The readers are well capable of reaching their own conclusions. I trust them to do so.

roster · Post by **roster** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:56 pm

Don't trust our federal government to make things better for us.

What is CMS?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:17 pm

CMS stands for Center for Medicare and Medcaid Services. They oversee the programs.

And trust me, someone being against competetive bidding is about the farthest thing from "advocating anti-consumer behavior". Competetive bidding is very nearly a disaster. As Rooster put it, "Dont' trust the government to make things better for us".

Competetive Bidding, amongst other things, is when CMS accepts bids from companies for a product and whomever is lowest, that is the ONLY provider you are allowed to use to get those products. Period. No more lists to choose from, no more having one company in one area and a different company in a different area. Just one company. That's it.

Apria for everyone!