Entrepreneur destroyed

The letter below was sent to Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C.

Mark, as busy as you are, please have one of your staff members obtain a copy of the June 2016 issue of HME News. I would like to direct your attention to the front page article, “Diabetes: Medicare slashes provider numbers.” As you may remember, my Hayesville, N.C., DME diabetic provider business did not win a competitive bidding contract in 2013 when CMS slashed the number of mail-order providers from nearly 1,000 to 15, putting 81 good constituents on the street and making it very difficult for 30,000 customers to obtain their supplies. The reimbursement for a box of diabetic test strips was reduced from $30.14 (too high) to $10.40 (way too low). My company could not sustain itself in business, much less grow, below a reimbursement of $15.86/ box of 50 test strips. I invested 13 months and $250,000 determining this specific reimbursement number. And no one was listening! And now, the Obama administration is about to totally destroy all diabetics access to Medicare-reimbursed testing products by lowering the reimbursement to $8.32/box! For most manufacturers, this is below the wholesale cost to stay in business. I believe the administration's ploy is to force our nation into a “single payer Marxist socialistic health care system” and as we both know—check with many third-world countries—this kind of system has failed miserably. Mark, are you personally prepared to pay 90% in personal income tax as they do in Belgium, etc.? Worse yet, we are destroying the entrepreneurial spirit in America. I visited my physician today. After many years of successful practice, he is quitting his profession and taking a teaching position at the University of Georgia. Many thousands of medical professionals are following in his footsteps. Stay resolute in your conservative convictions, Mark. We appreciate your business acumen and expect nothing less than total commitment to making America a more free and once again powerful nation—of the people by the people.

—William Sweeney