Medicare admits overpaying for some medical equipment (800$ to rent a wheelchair?)

[Ginto]

This is why we can't have nice things. We are governed by corruption and incompetence.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It's no secret the federal government is not always frugal with our money - remember the military's $640 toilet seats and $436 hammers? Now comes Medicare paying more than double the retail cost for wheelchairs.

Alan Siegel of Fort Lauderdale discovered the overspending recently when he needed to replace a wheelchair for his wife. He wanted to buy one since she suffers from a form of muscular dystrophy and requires permanent use of a wheelchair.
But Medicare only covers the cost to rent one for up to 13 months. At that point, the chair belongs to the patient.

Two months into Siegel's rental, he learned just how much Medicare was paying. The total cost over the course of the rental would top $800.

"I checked further and found the chair being rented cost less than $350. ... I had the supplier stop the rental and I purchased the chair," Siegel said. "It is ridiculous for Medicare to spend so much more for a rental in situations when a cheaper purchase makes so much more sense."

Medicare does not cover wheelchair purchases because many people only need them short term, said Laurence Wilson, director of the Chronic Care Policy Group in the Center for Medicare. "These are expensive items that some people rent for a few months and then don't necessarily need them."

As for the prices, the government is well aware that Medicare often pays too much. The Medicare reimbursement rate for wheelchairs ranges from $490 to $1,750 for the 13-month rental period, depending on the type of chair.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/30/1546232/medicare-admits-overpaying-for.html#ixzz17ADpMMlR

[Dreamer Tatum]

1. Wanna cut the deficit?

Go to single payer, and hire private, third party agencies to do nothing but look for this sort of waste and graft. They get paid based on finding shit like this.

[Ginto]

2. That is a great idea. nt

[notesdev]

3. More efficient to publish prices

Let people make decisions with price in mind as they do in every other aspect of commerce. The reasons medical costs are shooting the moon is that there is no even remotely effective cost containment built into the system as-is. Rather than trying to erect yet another huge bureaucracy to cost us all a ton of money and then screw up what they were hired to do, take advantage of the most efficient distributed decision-making capability available... individuals making decisions for themselves as to how to best allocate the healthcare resources available to them.

[Recursion]

9. That was the GOP's idea

Can't say it's an all bad idea, either.

[stray cat]

4. There is plenty of fraud which should be stopped and prosecuted

[Ginto]

5. But this isn't even fraud. This is just not caring. nt

[Uben]

6. Durable Medical Equipment companies have been screwing..

...Medicare for years, but the wheelchair thing isn't that odd. Yes, Medicare pays $800 for the chair, but after the year is up, the DME company does not necessarily get it back. They have to keep renting to the individual as long as he needs it, but payment stops after the first year. They may keep it for years and it's usually not fit to resell. If something happens to the chair while the person has it, the DME co has to fix it. So, the $800 isn't as outrageous as it sounds. But there are plenty more scams they have to rob Medicare. My wife has worked for a DME rental company for 25 yrs.

Pharmacists are as bad or worse. They try to get you to let them mail your Medicare prescriptions and once they start, it's almost impossible to get them to stop. Even if the person dies! Why? BEcause they keep billing Medicare and they keep paying! I have known several instances where individuals have called numerous times to get the prescriptions stopped, but they keep coming.

[Ginto]

8. Thanks for the insight. I had not heard that about pharmacists. nt

[Obamanaut]

7. You typed "...We are governed by corruption and incompetence..." And

despite this, we reelect those doing the governing time after time, until they have an entire career.

This, the excerpted portion of the OP, might be what the signs and posters are referring to when the read "Hands off my medicare" - the incompetence and corruption.

I'm sure the folks holding the posters know medicare is a government program, they are just tired of the screwups.

[Recursion]

10. No, they knew perfectly well that HCR would require Medicare to cut reimbursement rates

which meant that it was possible that their providers would stop taking Medicare.

[NNN0LHI]

11. I think these Medicare Advantage companies are the very worst

My elderly mother has had one chasing after her to get her to sign up for months now. He has her drumming more business up for his company. He told her he worked for Medicare(which he didn't), and that the doctor and nurse who came to her house to treat her would dust her blinds when they came. Hell, she might have fallen for it and signed up for all I know?

Don

[xultar]

12. It was rented from a republican