DACULA, GA – Todd Tyson, president of Ga-based Hi-Tech Healthcare Inc, is just a week away from a special election that could make him a State Representative in the Georgia House of Representatives (District 104). The more likely scenario is that he would earn a spot in a run-off for the now-vacant post.
Since the sitting state rep stepped down to pursue a Congressional run, Tyson and three others have been vying for the spot which will be decided (or narrowed down) by voters on November 5.
“It has been a whirlwind—a sprint,” says Tyson, a 51-year-old father of four and HME veteran of more than two decades. “We have momentum, support, and people are following us on twitter. We have our yard signs out, and for the last two weekends, I have probably knocked on 350 doors, and probably have 500 more doors to knock on.”
In addition to starting Hi-Tech, a business with seven locations and 110 employees, Tyson is president of the Georgia Association of Medical Equipment Services and sits on the board of AAHomecare.
“I’ve been to Washington, DC, probably 15 times in the last six years, on all the HME issues,” he says. “We have had to do a lot of advocacy in Georgia. We were successful in getting a state sales tax exemption for DMEs as long as it is prescribed by a physician.
“The most recent thing that pushed me into this was that our state department of community health just awarded an exclusive contract to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which is Anthem,” continues Tyson. “That is 650,000 covered lives. Two weeks after they announced that exclusive contract with our state employees, they sent us a fee schedule reduction of 40%. They claimed that they were implementing fair market and using the competitive bidding rate. We went down to the state house to find out how stuff like that happens, because it almost seems scandalous.”
Tyson has done well with campaign funding so far, but contributions are still needed and welcomed. Those who wish to donate and/or learn more about Tyson’s campaign can go to www.tysonforga.com. “AAHomecare wishes Tyson the best of luck,” wrote association officials in a note to members, “and asks members to take a moment to visit his campaign website and support his efforts if possible.”