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H.R. 621, The Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act of 2007 (5 comments ↓)
H.R. 621 would amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore the Medicare treatment of ownership of oxygen equipment to that in effect before enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
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Visitor Comments
Susanne Kanen
If patients own their own equipment after 36 months though Medicare says they will pay for "service" every 6 months providers will no longer be able to afford sending technicians to the patient's home for monitoring,pick up,delivery, and on site servicing. Before the 36 month cap the companies carried the full burden of monitoring, equipment, delivery, and tracking for as long as the patient had the equipmnent. The elderly or infirmed will not be able to lug around the 120 pound base tanks or 70 pound concentrators to take them to the provider for servicing nor will they be able to self monitor this technical equipment. Oxygen is an FDA regulated drug. Also what happens to regulated equipment once the patient is done? Misuse of oxygen can lead to more frequent emergency room visits thus increasing the cost to Medicare. How will the equipment be disposed of when they are finished with it? Also small providers will go away limiting patient choice.
Joan I. McIntosh
This further illustrates the fact that this country has abominable health care. Why is it that health care in Cuba and Canada far exceeds that in the US, except of course, for the wealthy. As senior citizens with family who are oxygen dependent, this scheme is about as low as we as a country can stoop. But should we be surprised? This is no longer a republic or a democracy, it is corporate fascism.
Martha Denham
An unintended consequence is that providers are discontinuing liquid oxygen. LOX is a preferred portable oxygen because it is more compact , has a lighter weight container, & a supply that lasts longer, allowing the patient greater freedom. The reimbursement for liquid has been underpaid & suppliers have depended on the compressor rental to subsidize the more expensive liquid.
I am a COPD patient & my supplier is proposing a homefill system where the patient fills their own canisters of compressed. The patient is supplied two canisters, each holding enough oxygen to last 4 hours @ 2 LPM. I need 4 LPM to exercise and participate in community activities. The canisters proposed will limit me to 2 hours away from home which is not even sufficient to go to the health facility and exercise. They weigh twice as much as the liquid oxygen container.
This is a step backward for supplemental oxygen dependent patients. The less active we are, the sooner we die.
Bob
If this bill doesn't pass O2 companies will go out of business, O2 patients will own a worn out oxygen concentrator they can't get serviced. They will end up in the hospital where the more they will cost Medicare more than a whole year of O2 theraphy in one night. This is what happens when bean counters make health care decisions.
cathyrn
I am very frustrated with the "Powers that be"that have affected the decision of many O2 providers to take liquid oxygen from patients. It all comes down to cost vs the quality of life for those that need it. My mother has used liquid o2 for the past 7 years. It has given her great freedom and mobility in the misdt of her disease. Now they attach her to a noisy concentrator that makes her feel like an invilid and carry around the heavy, green bomb that ways 3x as much. She is discouraged and wants to give up.Is money really more important that quality of life? I'd like the providers to try each system for a week and see which one makes their life more enjoyable. The lightweight and quiet liquid o2 or the noisy concentrator and heavy, compersom tanks!