[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 13301-13302]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          MEDICARE DME-POS MARKET PRICING PROGRAM ACT OF 2013

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, on August 22, the United 
States Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General, 
Daniel Levinson, announced his decision to initiate an investigation 
into the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, aka Medicare, and 
its handling of the Competitive Bidding Program for durable medical 
equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies.
  I initiated a request on June 20, 2013, following disclosures that 
CMS awarded contracts nationwide to suppliers that lacked the proper 
licensure and accreditation--clear violations of the agency's program 
guidelines for participation in the Competitive Bidding Program.
  The so-called ``competitive'' bidding model is being used by the 
government to procure goods and services for our Nation's seniors and 
those facing life-altering disease and disability. While CMS makes 
claims the Competitive Bidding Program will increase market competition 
and lower costs, in practice it's shown to be anything but competitive. 
Over the past several years, we've seen the program negatively affect 
seniors and force small medical companies, many that are local and the 
only entity capable of providing quality goods and a high level of 
service, out of the market and out of business.
  In 2011, more than 240 economists and market auction design experts 
wrote to President Obama concerning the flawed bidding model. The 
experts wrote:

       The current program is the antithesis of science and 
     contradicts all that is known about proper market design.

  These warnings have become reality over the past several years. The 
licensure and accreditation abuses are just the latest among a long 
list of program failures.
  For many of these reasons, on June 12, 2013, 227 bipartisan Members 
of the House--a full majority--including 82 Democrats and 145 
Republicans, sent a letter to CMS outlining the flaws and abuses in the 
program, requesting that the agency delay further implementation until 
such issues are fully addressed and fixed.
  Despite the growing number of reported abuses under the program and 
strong congressional concern about the bidding design and a long 
overdue need for transparency and accountability, CMS moved forward 
with the program in 91 new bidding areas on July 1, 2013, bringing the 
total to 100 areas nationwide.
  While CMS has admitted to the abuses, the agency has failed to detail 
how these failures occurred or offer a plan for corrective action. With 
any hope, the Office of Inspector General's efforts will shed light on 
how these failures occurred and impose a new level of transparency at 
the Medicare agency, CMS, and among the agency's administrators. In the 
meantime, it will be up to the House of Representatives to take 
corrective action.
  With this said, I respectfully request that each of my colleagues 
join me in cosponsoring H.R. 1717, Medicare DME-

[[Page 13302]]

POS Market Pricing Program Act of 2013. This commonsense measure, 
authored by my esteemed colleague from Georgia, Dr. Price, will apply 
real market principles to the highly flawed competitive bidding model. 
Madam Speaker, we owe as much to our constituents, the taxpayers, and 
our Nation's Medicare beneficiaries.

                          ____________________