[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3773-3774]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          COMPETITIVE BIDDING

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, a durable medical 
equipment supplier recently sued the U.S. Department of Health and 
Human Services over Medicare's competitive bidding program. In 
February, the judge dismissed the case, stating the supplier had no 
jurisdiction because Congress prohibited judicial review of the program 
in 2003.
  The court was, however, ``deeply concerned about the unjust 
consequences of its order''; so concerned, the court

[[Page 3774]]

was compelled to issue a memorandum prior to its full opinion:

       Every citizen is entitled to equal justice under law, which 
     is not measured by incidence of death or hospital admissions, 
     but rather by the right to receive medically necessary 
     treatment and to live each day with dignity. To the extent 
     that a civilized society is measured by the manner in which 
     it protects its most vulnerable members, it has failed today.

  Congress has a responsibility to beneficiaries to ensure CMS is 
transparent and the competitive bidding program is truly competitive 
and does not prevent access to these critical services.
  I will not be complacent, Mr. Speaker, and this body should not be 
content with a culture of insecurity for providers and the vulnerable 
populations that they serve.
  The American people deserve better.

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