TREASURE COAST — The number of Treasure Coast medical equipment suppliers for Blue Cross/Blue Shield patients will dwindle to three starting Nov. 1.

The cutbacks follow a competitive bidding process by regional suppliers who provide products from diabetes testing strips to oxygen machines statewide to remain in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida network.

Liberty Medical Supply and Physician’s Choice Respiratory Services, Inc., both in Port St. Lucie, and Rotech Oxygen & Medical Equipment in Stuart remain as the lone Treasure Coast suppliers after the bidding, according to a Blue Cross/Blue Shield list sent to Oxygen Plus in Vero Beach.
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Is there such a thing as a recession-proof business?

Mark Libratore, whose Stuart company sells diabetes equipment and other medical supplies, thinks his comes close.

Last week — the same week Florida’s unemployment hit its highest level since 1976 — Libratore’s Liberator Medical Supply said it intends to hire 200 employees within the next two years. That’s including the 50 jobs it announced in January. (more…)