DME payments durable after all
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Medicare rural health provisions - including an offsetting freeze in inflationary Medicare updates for durable medical equipment, application of deductibles and coinsurance for diagnostic lab tests and a reduction in the Average Wholesale Price for outpatient drugs - were removed from the Senate omnibus tax bill (S 1054) during conference negotiations (1"The Gray Sheet" May 19, 2003, In Brief). In a May 22 letter to Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), President Bush expresses his support for inclusion of the $25 bil. Medicare rural health payment increases in Medicare reform legislation. However, it is unlikely that the controversial offsets will remain on the table...