Another Medicare question

[Guest guest]

It's no wonder I'm a raging pessimist.

I just spent 1 hour on the phone with a Medicare employee, and another hour on

the Medicare website, both of which were useless.

Question:

1. If a person owns a piece of durable medical equipment (e.g., in this

scenario, custom made orthotics/braces),

2. this piece of DME is over 10 years old and is in need of replacement,

following several repairs,

3. the DME breaks, and the person can not walk without the braces or take care

of daily needs without the braces,

4. the 'repair' can be done in a couple of hours while the person waits,

5. new, custom-made replacement orthotics/braces will take 2-4 weeks,

Will Medicare pay for the repair which is an emergency, as well as pay for a

replacement?

The Medicare employee refused to give me the 'top-secret' Provider Hotline,

which - she stated - had all the detailed information related to my question.

So, us 'ignert' people are left with Medicare.gov and 800-Medicare, both of

which are very superficial. It wouldn't be so bad, but - yes - the providers are

clueless regarding the above real scenario, even after donning sunglasses and

calling the Provider Hotline.

Does anyone here have any light to shed on this question?