BILLINGS — A federal program designed to cut spending and patient costs while addressing fraud has led some Medicare suppliers in Montana to cut back on the areas they serve.
The program was put in place by Montana earlier this year. It cuts Medicare payments for equipment in Montana by as much as 42 percent. Government officials say the program has saved billions of dollars since it began last year.
Some Montana providers said they might have to limit the equipment for which they take payments or stop taking payments from the federal health insurance program that covers people 65 or older. Medicare also covers some younger people with disabilities and people with permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant.
Suppliers are required to accept the prices set for some medical equipment if they take Medicare payments. The federal program pays 80 percent of that cost, while the beneficiary pays the other 20 percent.
“I don’t know the financial standings of a lot of these companies, but I sit down with them and they’re in tears. It’s a lot of family-owned companies,” medical sales professional Alesha Rate told the Billings Gazette (http://bit.ly/1RGu6B4).
The government says all bidders are all checked out to make sure they’re financially able to handle the contract and that they can provide the equipment they promised.