by CMS by 41 per cent is devastating to seniors and the mobility impaired. Providers of medical equipment claim this will put many of them out of business.
It will also leave folks without the equipment they need to get around - yet another community living issue.
According to the newspaper article above, it also is not a sound fiscal decision. These facts are cited:
*Utilization of the mobility benefit has increased by 2,700 percent over the last eight years.
* Studies show that the federal government has saved more than 10 billion dollars over the same time period because people with power wheelchairs and scooters are living independently, require less homecare and hospitalization, and visit hospital emergency rooms fewer times due to falls and fall related injuries
* The reimbursement cuts will limit any future savings from providing mobility equipment to Medicare beneficiaries
*Among people with identical ailments, those without power wheelchairs and scooters required treatment and care that cost 2 1/2 times the price of mobility equipment
* Medicare pays $14,000 more per person for beneficiaries with physical impairments who did not receive mobility equipment
In a nutshell, this decision jeopardizes whether mobility equipment can be provided by Medicare in the future.
That affects all of us.
3 comments:
If the statistics are accurate (I'm leaving room for doubt, since they come from the Scooter Store) about the increased cost of eventual care for those who do not have a mobilized wheelchair, then the government is truly being shortsighted. This ruling could well effect me personally some day. Is there any way to influence a change in this policy? What would be the best way to proceed?
So glad you asked! You can write your congressman
here: http://mygov.governmentguide.com/mygov/dbq/officials/
You can join a group of disabled people who are organized to fight these issues and what I will do is put up a post with some organization names.
The reality is that some of these bills pass because folks do not read about the issues that affect us and write legislators before they pass the bill (even thoug hpeople don't want that to be the law). By joining a group, you get the benefit of keeping abreast of current issues- and have a better input.
Also, subscribe to an rss feed service on disability news through yahoo or another service - which provides you with news stories about disability issues. ( This, quite clearly, is also an elderly issue and one that everyone with senior parents should know about.) You can enter keywords such as disability and elderly to tailor the rss feed to what you want.
I figured you would have several ideas. Thanks!
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