chunkyfrog wrote:Competitive bidding was a lousy idea, which narrows the supply line to a few large companies
with little or no patient involvement or sense of medical responsibility.
It would make far more sense to allow reimbursement to patients for all supplies,
INCLUDING those bought online. Of course, this would naturally force competitive pricing,
and even local DME's would have to offer better prices or WAY better service!
I would happily submit receipts to Medicare if they would allow online purchases.
If I need a "fitting", it should be billed separately; why pay for a service that is not needed or given?
I love the frog dearly, but Medicare doing it the other way would be a logistics nightmare and not work nearly as well simply because 99% of patients, including Medicare patients, have neither the time, nor the ability to do that kind of intense legwork to check best prices, shop to shop, before buying, renting DME items, etc. That kind of 'competition', placing the burden of pricing on the
patient, will simply allow the DMEs to gouge the patients in their locales for whatever they will pay. And, the fact is that because of its enormous buying power, Medicare is able to obtain prices far, far lower, on average, on its own, than any individual could ever dream to.
I was very frustrated when I bought my cpap machine -- I found it for less online by a few hundred dollars, but Blue Cross would not reimburse me if I bought it from the online source. I even called them about it and complained. However I realize they have contracts with their DMEs to get 'preferred pricing' that forbid these kinds of outside deals, etc., or there may be other financial incentives they get for promoting or paying for only their 'preferred' providers other than the actual cost of the equipment. So the bean counters at Blue Cross have worked this out far better than I ever could and have determined its in their best interest to pay for DME supplies this way, rather than allow me and others to 'price shop' on our own.
