Medicare Policy Keeps Door Shut on Disabled

http://www.alternet.org/story/50374/

Medicare Policy Keeps Door Shut on Disabled

By Prema Polit, AlterNet. Posted April 11, 2007.

In an attempt to cut costs, Medicare has been denying coverage of power wheelchairs to people with disabilities who can't leave home without them.

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Few are in a better position to know the effect of Medicare's policy than the clinicians who see its problems day after day and struggle to find a solution. The Clinician Task Force, a 3-year-old organization, is a collaboration of experienced and respected clinicians, including physical therapists and assistive technology practitioners and suppliers, who are dedicated to changing the policy.

A co-chair of the Clinician Task Force, Barbara Crane has been a physical therapist for over 15 years, primarily in the area of wheelchairs and seating. "I work a lot with people who need wheelchairs and are covered under Medicare," she says. "I have seen people who I would certainly recommend a different device for, we end up having to go with another one because Medicare won't cover it."

It seems like a no-brainer to many: Why only pay for a wheelchair intended for use inside the home? Isn't outside where someone would need a wheelchair the most? And why does nobody know about this?

Because this particular Medicare policy affects a smaller population than other issues such as prescription medications, it is not as much on the political radar of many advocates, legislators and beneficiaries. "In fact," Crane explains, "most people covered by Medicare are unaware of the problem until they get denied coverage for a mobility assistance device such as a power wheelchair."

For many years, Medicare only paid for wheelchairs if someone was nonambulatory, meaning unable to walk at all. While the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services revised the guidelines to include the inability to complete an "activity of daily living," the qualifier remained: "in the home."

"There is a group of people out there who are not getting what they need," Crane says.

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and made sure the doctor did his part.

They finally gave her a power chair, but they didn't include a lift to get her chair into/out of a vehicle, so I guess chair users are supposed to stay home, hidden, off the streets and out of view of the general public.

The chair came in handy and saved her from being hauled off to jail in San Francisco during one of the early protests against the war. They were in body bags and her corner was Bush/Powell! SFPD at that time had no way to get her into the paddy wagon. :)