Do You Know What a "CBA" Is?

Do you know what a “C.B.A.” is? If you have Medicare, it may affect getting equipment you may need.

I feel helpless and sad when I have to turn away disabled people who are asking for my assistance and who live near our office in Raleigh. Since Medicare didn’t choose us to participate in the Raleigh CBA program, we are not allowed to help them even though we are a Medicare authorized provider.

CBA’s affect patient access to diabetic supplies, oxygen supplies, beds, walkers, scooters, manual push wheelchairs, power chairs and so much more through your Medicare.

Medicare has implemented restricted coverage for most types of medical equipment in 100 + U.S. metropolitan cities, including Raleigh, Greensboro, Charlotte, Asheville and their surrounding areas. Medicare calls them Competitive Bid Areas (CBA). Medicare is doing this to save money and to minimize the amount of providers that are billing Medicare. If you live in or near one of these cities, what does that mean for you?

You can no longer pick a provider of your choice. Instead, you have to call Medicare to find out who is on the small list of providers who can still provide equipment in your area. Most of the providers on the list will be not be in your local area or even your home state. Because the providers bid so low, the choices of brands or levels of options will be very restricted and very basic.

How did these providers get on the CBA list?

Medicare created a bidding process where only the lowest handful of bidders got a contract, while all the rest of the providers are now locked out from assisting anyone in that area with Medicare, even if they have been in business there for years and years.

Here’s an example:

A local provider has been assisting patients for 20 years in Greensboro. They didn’t bid low enough to be chosen by Medicare to be on the new list of CBA providers, so now they cannot do any more Medicare business in their local Greensboro community. By cutting off their ability to work with Medicare, they end up going out of business. Now, a low ball bidder who may have never done business in Greensboro before, gets to start covering Greensboro from outside the Greensboro area or even from outside of NC.

If you have a Medicare replacement plan like Humana or other plans like BCBS, Aetna, Cigna, UHC or Medicaid, you can still chose whomever you want and still have more options of brands and products. Warning: If you are thinking of making a change from your current Medicare coverage, please make sure to discuss the options with your current health care providers and family first. Switching insurance coverages can cause loss of coverage, not being able to see your regular MD’s or other negative impacts on your current policies.

Scott Dannenberg

President Southern Mobility and Medical

scott@southernmobiityonline.com

1-800-681-8831

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