Medicare overpaying millions on 'erection pumps': report

A government report released Monday says Medicare is paying out-sized amounts for male vacuum erection systems compared to non-Medicare payers.

The inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Servicesfound that Medicare payments for the devices remain "grossly excessive," or more than twice as much as the Department of Veterans Affairs and consumers on the Internet pay.

"If the Medicare fee schedule amount for VES had been adjusted to approximate the amount paid for the same or similar devices by non-Medicare payers, the federal government would have saved an average of approximately $14.4 million for each of the six years reviewed, and Medicare beneficiaries would have saved approximately $3.6 million annually," the report said.


Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jan/13/medicare-overpaying-millions-erection-pumps-report/?1#ixzz2qKUpdsH4
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Why is this even covered by Medicare? Can't they afford their own damn pump? My employer based insurance wouldn't pay for this. It won't even pay for the little blue pills!!

Now I see why Fuddy is so happy all of a sudden...

Liberalism, ladies and gentlemen...

             

Quote from: The Boo Man... on January 13, 2014, 04:58:15 PM
Now I see why Fuddy is so happy all of a sudden...

Here is what they don't tell you.

1. A Medicare provider will spend 30 cents on the dollar to collect on the insurance billing while the online guy gets paid cash up front.
2. The Medicare provider has to spend tens of thousands of dollars a year to be accredited by someone like Joint Commission while the internet provider can just open up a storefront and take your credit card payment.
3. The Medicare provider has to get signed prescriptions from your doctor and copies of medicare records proving the medicare necessity of the device while an online guy just takes your order.
4. A medicare provider may have a large percentage of his revenue tied up for 6 months to 2 years while the online guy is getting all of his money up front before shipping.
5. The medicare provider has to spend tens of thousands of dollars getting Medicare numbers. A cost not borne by the online guy.
6. The medicare provider can only provide pumps that have been SADMERC approved. Not so for the online guy so he can sell products that cost less while the Medicare provider pays more for the devices he has to resell.

For these reasons and many more, the entire "story" is a sham. Best case it's a matter of showboating politicians who are too ignorant to understand the issue and worst case it's a bunch of crooked deadbeats trying to welch on a debt they owe to providers who were filling orders in good faith.