Don't count on the U.S. Supreme Court
By Liz Beaulieu, Editor
Updated Wed April 4, 2012
You might not want to count on the U.S. Supreme Court to save the HME industry from a host of painful provisions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Those provisions include, among others, expanding competitive bidding to 21 additional areas, applying a 2.3% excise tax on medical devices, and eliminating the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs.
AAHomecare pointed out last week that if the court decides in June to overturn the ACA it would effectively eliminate those provisions.
Which is true.
And don't think that point went unnoticed. When I was working on stories last week, at least two people mentioned to me, "Well, if the court overturns the Affordable Care Act..."
It's true but, it turns out, highly unlikely.
I called some people in the know today and asked them about the chances of this happening, and, frankly, they made me feel kind of silly for asking.
The politest way to put it: "We don't expect any decision they make to have much of an impact on us."
If anything, the court will likely strike down only the individual mandate provision, which will have no impact on the HME provisions whatsoever.
So there you have it.
There will be no further stories about this in HME News.
Because that would be silly.
Liz Beaulieu
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