When I was just 22 years old, I was a passenger in a motorcycle crash that left me paralyzed from the chest down.
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that → leave → chest
Yet ever since, I’ve been able to live an independent, fulfilling life, thanks to modern medicine and medical devices.
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I → live → medicine
But soon, a federal agency could strip away my access to some of those essential tools — unless White House officials or Congress intervenes.
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officials → strip → tools
Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a plan to add urological and ostomy supplies, including the catheters I use daily to drain my bladder, to its “competitive bidding” program.
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I → finalize → program
Medicare officials will select just a handful of medical supply companies that, starting in 2028, sell and deliver these products to Medicare beneficiaries across the country.
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that → select → country
Their goal is to reduce Medicare spending by routing nearly all Medicare purchases of certain products through just a few companies.
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goal → reduce → companies
To win one of those gigantic contracts, companies will offer the government lower rates.
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companies → win → rates
And that, in turn, should reduce overall Medicare spending.
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that → reduce → spending
In reality, the program will disrupt patients’ access to many specialized products.
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program → disrupt → products
And over time, it’ll stifle research into new medical devices and products that improve patients’ lives and prevent costly complications.
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that → stifle → complications
The White House and Congress could do right by both patients and taxpayers by telling Medicare officials to scrap this plan.
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House → do → plan
Millions of people have spinal cord injuries, spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, prostate problems, and other conditions that prevent them from using the bathroom normally.
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that → have → bathroom
As a result, they rely on catheters and ostomy bags to drain, collect, and safely dispose of their bodily waste.
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they → rely → waste
Improvements to these technologies have vastly enhanced patients’ quality of life.
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Improvements → enhance → life
Several decades ago, patients generally relied on basic PVC catheters that they had to lubricate themselves.
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they → rely → themselves
Today, many of us use hydrophilic catheters that come precoated, which makes them easier to use, more comfortable, and far less likely to cause catheter-associated urinary tract infections that can lead to expensive hospitalizations.
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that → use → hospitalizations
Older products often irritated patients’ skin.
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products → irritate → skin
They frequently leaked.
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They → leak → ?
And they required frequent changes.
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they → require → changes
Newer products have solved many of those problems.
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products → solve → problems
They’re more customized, discreet, comfortable, and technologically advanced, which enables patients to live their lives without worrying about an embarrassing odor or serious medical complication.
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which → ’re → odor
The CMS’s new bidding system could cut these suppliers, and their specialized products, out of the market entirely.
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system → cut → market
Medicare plans to contract with only 10 hydrophilic urinary catheter suppliers and six ostomy suppliers nationwide, down from the hundreds that currently provide products.
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that → contract → products
Without Medicare reimbursements, it could be nearly impossible for mom-and-pop or regional operations to stay in business.
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operations → stay → business
A recent survey found that nearly half of suppliers anticipate significant challenges to maintaining their businesses, with many warning they could be forced to scale back operations or close entirely.
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they → find → operations
If suppliers close or reduce offerings, patients across the country, regardless of whether they’re on Medicare or private insurance, could lose access to the products they currently depend on.
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they → close → products
By shrinking the market for specialty products, the competitive bidding program will likely reduce companies‘ incentive to invent new devices and products.
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program → shrink → devices
One study found that when Medicare cut reimbursement for certain medical devices in the past, it resulted in a 25% decline in new product introductions and a decrease in patent filings by 75%.
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it → find → %
The CMS rightly wants to reduce financial waste.
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CMS → want → waste
But limiting patients’ access to the supplies they need to remove bodily waste won’t accomplish that goal.
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they → limit → goal
In fact, it could lead to more infections and hospitalizations, which could increase overall Medicare spending.
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which → lead → spending
Medicare officials are putting people’s lives on the line — including my own.
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officials → put → own
Congress and the White House can protect patients, and taxpayers, by urging those officials to reconsider.
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Congress → protect → officials
Jesi Stracham is a wheelchair athlete, advocate, and sales representative for U-Med who has been paralyzed from the chest down since a 2015 motorcycle crash.
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who → paralyze → crash
The Aporia
