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| Senate Passes Key Medicare Bill that Includes Pulmonary Rehabilitation Coverage Provision and Repeals Key Home Oxygen Statute |
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New legislation that would have a positive impact on Medicare beneficiaries with pulmonary fibrosis passed the Senate On July 9, 2008 by a veto-proof margin of 69-30. The bill - The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (S. 3101/H.R. 6331) - also includes a provision to create a national coverage policy for pulmonary and cardiac rehabilitation in Medicare, and repealed the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act, which would have forced patients to take ownership of their oxygen equipment after 36 months of use. Both these are significant wins for the pulmonary fibrosis community.
The U.S. House of Representatives originally passed the Bill (H.R. 6331) in June, 2008. The first attempt to pass the Bill through the Senate failed by one vote, however Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who missed the earlier vote due treatment for brain cancer, made a dramatic return to the Senate to cast his vote in favor of the Bill. After the Bill reached the 60 votes needed for passage, a number of Senators who had previously voted against the Bill switched their votes to support it.
This Bill creates a new benefit category for pulmonary rehabilitation in Medicare statute that establishes a cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation benefit in the Medicare statute, and creates a national coverage policy of pulmonary rehabilitation - eliminating the state-by-state coverage policies that have lead to coverage variations and barriers to pulmonary rehabilitation services for many Medicare beneficiaries. The statute would be effective beginning January 1, 2010.
These issues were previously introduced in Congress as the Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Act (H.R. 552, S. 329) and the Home Oxygen Patient Protection Act (H.R. 621, S. 1484), but have since been rolled in to The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act.
The Bill also ends the mandatory title transfer of oxygen equipment to Medicare beneficiaries. Prior Medicare legislation required that ownership of oxygen durable medical equipment be transferred Medicare beneficiaries after 3-years of use. The legislation just passed by Congress rescinds this requirement.
But the legislative maneuvering is not over yet. The White House has stated that the President will likely veto the legislation. It remains to be seen if the White House will make good on it veto threat. If the President does veto the legislation, the House and Senate will again vote on the Bill to attempt to override the president's veto.
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