Orrin Hatch: “when I first introduced this legislation over one year ago, Medicare beneficiaries with advanced heart disease could not…”

“when I first introduced this legislation over one year ago, Medicare beneficiaries with advanced heart disease could not gain access to ventriculaassist devices. Medicare patients who could have benefitted from cochlear implants did not receive them. It is now over a year later. Unfortunately, these problems still persist. Medicare beneficiaries still have trouble gaining access to many technologies that are covered under private plans. And while the Omnibus Budget legislation for FY 2001 addressed the overall problem and by addressing access concerns for Medicare beneficiaries, there is still plenty of work that needs to be done. That is why I am introducing the Medicare Patient Access to Technology Act 2000 today. We must eliminate the delays and barriers to access that have arisen in the way Medicare decides to cover, code and pay for new devices and diagnostics. The measure I am introducing today is identical to legislation introduced by Congressman Jim Ramstad and Congresswoman Karen Thurman earlier this year. It seeks to build off of the success we had last year in the Balanced Budget Refinement Act.”