Medicare Power Wheelchairs: Request for Stories

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Medicare Power Wheelchairs: Request for Stories"The United Spinal Association,LegislativeAlerts@..., shares the followingrequest:This is a critical time for the disability and agingcommunities. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS), the federal agency that runs the Medicare program,is in the process of developing new Medicare coverageguidelines for power wheelchairs. United Spinal Associationcommends CMS for revising this outdated coverage policy.Unfortunately, the agency continues to state that theserevisions will not address the problematic statutorylanguage "used in the patient's home".Currently Medicare will only cover power wheelchairs forbeneficiaries who need to use them in their home. If abeneficiary is able to move from room to room in their ownhouse (with or without the assistance of a walker, cane, orwalls and banisters), but they are unable to walk to work,school, or even their mailbox at the end of their driveway,then Medicare will not pay for a wheelchair because it isbeing used outside the home! Medicare's archaic policiesand misguided practices are limiting the independence,stifling the potential, thwarting the ambition, andjeopardizing the well-being of many American wheelchairusers.We know that the health of individuals with disabilities,both physical and mental, is wholly intertwined with theirability to be as functionally independent as possible.Therefore, any restriction that stifles the independence ofbeneficiaries, such as Medicare's power wheelchair coveragepolicy regarding "in the patient's home," also threatenstheir health and well-being. We need to let CMS know thatthe "in the patient's home" restriction is harmful toindividuals with disabilities by limiting access towheelchairs and compromises our independence, health andwell-being.United Spinal Association is a member of the ITEMCoalition, a national, consumer-led coalition with over 70member organizations working to improve access to assistivedevices, technologies and related services. We urge you tohelp us, and the ITEM Coalition, fight this overlyrestrictive policy. We need your stories regarding problemsobtaining access to the wheelchairs that you or someone youknow need to be healthy, independent and functional. Wewelcome stories not directly related to the policy change,including those that help people understand the barrierspresented by the "in the patient's home" restriction underMedicare coverage policy.Please submit your story to us via email atLegislativeAlerts@..., or call us at 202-331-1002 for more information. If you would like us to shareyour story as part of the Coalition's public educationcampaign, please submit your contact information, includingyour name and a phone number where we may reach you.# # #=====================JOIN AAPD! There's strength in numbers! Be a part of anational coalition of people with disabilities and joinAAPD today. http://www.aapd-dc.orgJFA ARCHIVES. All JFA postings from 1995 to present areavailable at:http://www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.htmlNOTE: Some Internet Providers (including AOL, Earthlink andJuno) may see JFA postings as spam because of the largevolume of JFA mail recipients and fail to deliver theposting. If this happens, the JFA system may automaticallyunsubscribe some email addresses. Should you stop receivingJFA Alerts, please subscribe to JFA again as per theinstructions at http://www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAsubscribing.htmlYou may also need to contact your service provider to findout how to prevent JFA postings from being recognized asspam.PLEASE EMPTY YOUR EMAIL INBOX REGULARLY. JFA automaticallydeletes subscribers that are over their message quota.If you stop using an account please unsubscribe that oldaccount.With hundreds of inbound emails and thousands of outboundemails daily, JFA can not respond to every message.We thank you for your understanding and continuedoutstanding advocacy!JUSTICE FOR ALL -- A Service of theAmerican Association of People with Disabilitieshttp://www.aapd-dc.org/JFA/JFAabout.html===================================================================== Justice-For-All FREE Subscriptions To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@... with one or the other in the body of your message: subscribe justice unsubscribe justice