Bipartisan Senate Bill Aims to Expand Medicare Access to Home Oxygen and Respiratory Therapists
Stalled
No legislative action in over 90 days.
Small durable medical equipment suppliers who provide home oxygen services have been squeezed out of the market by competitive bidding that drove prices too low to sustain their businesses. This bill raises reimbursement rates, especially for liquid oxygen (with a floor at 200% of the 2015 fee schedule adjusted for inflation), and ties future payments to the consumer price index. This should help small oxygen suppliers stay in business and potentially re-enter markets they had abandoned.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
The SOAR Act is built on four pillars to make supplemental oxygen more patient-centric. It addresses how decreased Medicare reimbursement has negatively impacted care, aiming to restore access to liquid oxygen and professional respiratory services that were cut under competitive bidding.
This legislation would stabilize payments for liquid oxygen and ensure patients have access to respiratory therapist services through their oxygen supplier. The bill also codifies a Patient's Bill of Rights to ensure individuals understand their requirements around equipment and care options.
Despite broad bipartisan backing, the SOAR Act's future is uncertain due to federal budget delays. If enacted, it would remove oxygen from Medicare competitive bidding and create a new add-on rate to reimburse respiratory therapist services, which advocates say is critical for high-flow patients.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
SOAR Act of 2025
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