Invacare Chief Mal Mixon (pictured, left) held sway on a variety of topics this week, including the presidential candidates (he hasn’t decided), competitive bidding (he wants to kill it), and the industry’s continuing lawsuits (not a big believer). The comments came during a wide-ranging discussion at a media event held this week at Invacare’s Elyria, Ohio, headquarters.

With a national election just months away, the conversation inevitably veered toward presidential politics. Despite Mixon’s status as a longtime republican, the chairman and CEO of Invacare said he is still undecided as to who the better candidate for the HME industry might be. “I never talked with President Bush about home health care, and that was a mistake,” said Mixon. “I am meeting with staffers for Obama next month, and we really need to find out [his positions]. I don’t think either Obama or McCain have really thought through their health care plans. It would be nice to get home care policy positions written into the platforms of both presidential candidates.”

Acknowledging the hard legislative battles this year, Mixon praised the role of the state associations in getting the much-needed delay of competitive bidding. “I think I would have jumped off a bridge if we had not gotten this [the delay] done,” said Mixon. “My wish is to have it [competitive bidding] disappear from the face of the earth. Hopefully when Weems [CMS Administrator Kerry Weems (pictured, right)] gets out of there, we’ll have someone we can talk to.”

With the help of a new administration, new members of Congress, and possibly a new CMS administrator, Mixon hopes to continue the legislative momentum by: working to replace competitive bidding with alternative reform; vigorously addressing fraud and abuse; and working toward oxygen payment reform. To help the activists, Mixon announced the hiring of two lobbying firms—Frederick H. Graefe (known for its work on the democratic side) and Capitol Health Group (known for its republican connections). With a clean slate in Washington, Mixon notes that more victories are possible if advocates keep up the pressure and resist the urge to let up. “I agree that we can’t stop…We need to get dollars into AAHomecare,” said Mixon. “We’re fighting alligators every day.”

While legal challenges are still brewing, Mixon acknowledges that he is not as enthusiastic about these remedies. “I’m not a big believer in suing the government,” said Mixon. “They have a lot of money and a lot of time.”