Last week, the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC), an alliance dedicated to promoting and supporting public policy initiatives that improve safety, quality and access for people with diabetes, joined the Congressional Diabetes Caucus and Congressional Black Caucus for a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss how Medicare’s bidding program for diabetes testing supplies has failed and should be immediately suspended. According to a peer-reviewed article that appeared in the American Diabetes Association’s journal, Diabetes Care, the program has caused increased mortality, hospital admissions, and higher costs.
“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said repeatedly that the program is a success,” said Christel Marchand Aprigliano, co-founder of DPAC, Type 1 diabetes patient and panelist during the Hill briefing on June 20 in a statement. “Now we have scientific proof that Medicare is lying to beneficiaries, Congress, and the American people.”
Beginning July 1, many Medicare beneficiaries will again experience a potentially life-threatening disruption in access to diabetes testing supplies during an updated rollout of the bidding program. This will cause another cycle of confusion and force many older adults on Medicare to once again change how they receive their testing supplies or switch brands.
Aprigliano was joined on the panel by the Honorable Nancy Johnson, former Chair of the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee; Gary Puckrein, PhD, president and CEO of the National Minority Quality Forum and author of the Diabetes Care article; Hope Warshaw, RD, CDE, BC-ADM, president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators; and Kathleen L. Wyne, MD, PhD, associate professor at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
“By ignoring the results of this Diabetes Care article and moving forward with another rollout, CMS continues to threaten the survival of over 11 million Americans with diabetes,” said Aprigliano. “Congress must look at the science and demand answers from CMS. The program is failing in its primary mission: to keep patients safe.”
Learn more about Medicare’s bidding program and how to help suspend the program by July 1.
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