WALLY HERGER: “If you won't let us mine our coal, why do you allow them to mine our dinosaurs and our artifacts?”

I appreciate the commission's work to figure out which approaches can improve the coordination of care in our too often fragmented health care system.

Congress established the competitive bidding program in light of evidence that the Medicare fee schedule payments far exceeded retail rates, leaving the DMEPOS benefit prone to waste, fraud, and abuse.

The program will go bankrupt if changes are not made.

As we continue to seek a long-term solution to the Medicare physician payment system, this hearing will enable the Subcommittee to learn more about how programs developed by physicians and private payers are successfully rewarding quality…