Editor's Note

Not So Super

A special committee deciding the fate of Medicare cuts should have you worried.

• By David Kopf
• Sep 01, 2011

I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t adopt Mad Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman’s famously over-optimistic outlook on life, “What, me worry?” It would sure help me better deal with Congress’s decision to put the fate of Medicare in the hands of special committee.

In fact, as a voter — and like most of my fellow taxpayers — the entire budget deal worked out in Congress and signed into law by President Obama has left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Instead of acting like the elected representatives they were supposed to be, lawmakers in both houses of Congress engaged in some entirely unnecessary campaign season political theater and cemented a deal that excused them from a large amount of decision-making and responsibility.

The agreement that was hashed out leaves a $1.5 trillion budget gap that a bicameral super committee of House and Senate lawmakers must close by Thanksgiving. Then Congress must then approve that budget by Dec. 23. Worst of all, nothing is off the table. While Medicare was spared from the $900 billion cuts made in the initial budget agreement, it could still go under the super committee’s knife.

Like I said, as a taxpayer, I find this lack of accountability irresponsible and somewhat cowardly. It’s essentially a public confession to the electorate that House and Senate lawmakers are less capable of coming up with a tough compromise than my school-age daughters are at deciding who gets the last slice of pizza.

But as a member of the home medical equipment industry, I find the scheme worrying — terrifying, in fact. As we all know, the industry has been CMS’s go-to whipping boy for regular budget cuts. Where larger, more powerful lobbies can block proposed cuts, homecare and HME have a much more difficult time convincing Congress to leave them alone.

Now, CMS and some very powerful lobbies with very deep pockets can concentrate their efforts on a measly eight lawmakers who have to make some very deep cuts to public programs. Who knows what kind of crazy plans are going to be hatched that will directly impact the industry’s funding? Moreover, I would not be the slightest bit surprised if the new arrangement of having a super committee make all the hard choices doesn’t wind up influencing a lot of other budget-related decisions. 

This could definitely be the case for H.R. 1041, the House bill introduced by Representatives Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) and Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) that calls for the repeal of the competitive bidding program. So far the bill has 145 backers, but when Congress comes back from its summer recess, how amenable will lawmakers be to backing a bill that could be negated by the super-committee’s final budget plan? I’m not suggesting that the industry ratchet back its efforts to back repeal, but I think this could be an obstacle it starts encountering.

For now, what we do know is that the super committee is comprised of eight members:

• Co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas)
• Co-chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
• Sen. Jon Kyl of (R-Ariz.)
• Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
• Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
• Sen. Max Baucus of (D-Mont.)
• Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
• Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
• Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.)
• Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)

I think probably the smartest thing a provider can do right this very moment is to contact each of those committee members and explain how critical HME is to their contistuents and why it must not be a line item falling under the super committee’s $1.5 trillion laundry list of cuts. 

Otherwise, we’ll all be saying, “Yes, me worry.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of HME Business.