Re: scooters etc.

June 1, 2008

i have the hoveround. it is great......do you have medicare, they pay for most

of it and your private insurance pays some. well worth the money. you can find

a good used one on ebay or call 1800hoveround. you can also GOOGLE Hoveround,

they show you all kinds and come to your home free of charge for a consulttion,

bring all the paper work you dr needs to fill out. if everything goes well you

will have a chair with very little out of pocket expense in less than 60 days.

good luck rita

[ ] scooters etc.

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some input in regards to scooters.

I have RA and my feet have finally gotten to the point where I need

to consider getting some mobility assistance. Does anyone have any

recommendations? I was looking for something light that I could use

to go to the mall with my daughters. Also does anyone know if

insurance would pay for any of it? I have BC/BS Thanks for any advise.

June 1, 2008

Hi !

I haven't begun looking yet. I have FMS/CFS/myofascia pain syndrome, RA

particularly bad in both knees and bilateral patella femoral syndrome. They

gave me a cane or advised me to get a walker with a seat due to the fact that

I'm only 36, they didn't want to see me confined to the hoverround chairs. Yet,

I'm to the point now where I cannot stand and bear weight, so I am asking my

doctor about this tomorrow. Are you familiar with the scooter store? They help

you fill out all the paperwork, get the information from your doctor, and if

your insurance ends up not paying, you get it for free. I hear though, that

some of the scooters aren't as easy to transport as they appear. Some are

supposed to fit in trunks, and some I know have had to purchase lifts and

special devices. I don't know if I will have a problem getting a scooter with

Medicare or not. Some insurances send someone to your home to see how it would

be used around the house. They specified that I couldn't

use it for " enjoyment " , but when I grocery shop in my small areas, we don't

always have motorized carts. So i shall see how that goes. I believe the

scooter store has a website at www.scooterstore.com. Good luck:)

flatsurfacesyndrome <flatsurfacesyndrome@...> wrote:

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some input in regards to scooters.

I have RA and my feet have finally gotten to the point where I need

to consider getting some mobility assistance. Does anyone have any

recommendations? I was looking for something light that I could use

to go to the mall with my daughters. Also does anyone know if

insurance would pay for any of it? I have BC/BS Thanks for any advise.

June 1, 2008

Thank you Rita! That helped to answer some of my questions as well. Does

Hoverround have scooters or just the wheel chairs? When I look into one I have

to get one that will fit in my family's car. I know some of the scooters come

apart to supposedly easily fit in the trunk. However, I hear some are easier to

detach and fit than others:)

Rita Wages <rita.wages@...> wrote: i have the

hoveround. it is great......do you have medicare, they pay for most of it and

your private insurance pays some. well worth the money. you can find a good

used one on ebay or call 1800hoveround. you can also GOOGLE Hoveround, they

show you all kinds and come to your home free of charge for a consulttion, bring

all the paper work you dr needs to fill out. if everything goes well you will

have a chair with very little out of pocket expense in less than 60 days. good

luck rita

[ ] scooters etc.

Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some input in regards to scooters.

I have RA and my feet have finally gotten to the point where I need

to consider getting some mobility assistance. Does anyone have any

recommendations? I was looking for something light that I could use

to go to the mall with my daughters. Also does anyone know if

insurance would pay for any of it? I have BC/BS Thanks for any advise.

June 1, 2008

One thing to consider is the total weight of your scooter/chair. My 4 wheel

Pride Celebrity XL scooter is over 2 feet wide and more than 4 feet long,

and weighs about 175 pounds. It breaks down easily into manageable pieces

but still takes up room. We also have a smaller chair , a Jazzy that

Medicare will pay for instead of a 4 wheeler, but don't understand why. They

will pay $7,000 for that one but won't pay half of that for a 4 wheeled

scooter. It works better inside but doesn't like rough terrain like my

scooter, and will sit and spin the tire if the ground isn't flat. The

scooter can go into the orchard and through ditches chasing aluminum cans,

and paid for by us because there weren't any options when I needed it. I've

made trailers and racks and put a larger door in the motorhome, only to find

out that it still needed almost an inch to fit through! I usually pick up

the front of it and turn it around in the front doorway. It is really an

inconvenience except in large open areas.

We got really lucky that we found the chair with a small problem at a

Goodwill for only $400! you won't find one that you can pay out except from

a store. Buying from an individual is usually impossible because of the

asking price. Be careful in your shopping to prevent the traps. And, I'm

saying what was the norm at the time I was needing one, about 15 years ago.

I'm going to talk to the folks at The Scooter Store instead of just passing

out their cards as I have been for more than 10 years, and see if they can

get me a newer type with lighter batteries. Good luck in your search.

Dennis in eastexas

On Sun, Jun 1, 2008 at 7:06 PM, flatsurfacesyndrome <

flatsurfacesyndrome@...> wrote:

> Hello everyone, I was hoping to get some input in regards to scooters.

> I have RA and my feet have finally gotten to the point where I need

> to consider getting some mobility assistance. Does anyone have any

> recommendations? I was looking for something light that I could use

> to go to the mall with my daughters. Also does anyone know if

> insurance would pay for any of it? I have BC/BS Thanks for any advise.

>

June 2, 2008

My doctor told me that she had never seen an insurance company cover a

scooter without you being totally housebound/can't walk 3' without it. She

wrote me a prescription for one, so off to the medical supply store I went.

It turns out she was right (dh's insurance was changing, so we checked with

the company before the switch and after the switch). They would only cover

chairs, not scooters, and you had to have a whole lot of different

treatments that I didn't need (I wanted it for fatigue, they wanted

treatments done for pain) before they'd even think about it. We got an

Invacare, Lynx model. I like it, but it doesn't have a great turning

radius. I would look for a better one of those if I had to replace it.

It's suppose to break apart, but it's hard to do so, and is really heavy.

We just got an electric lift to take it around with. Doctor wrote a

prescription for that too. Since insurance didn't pay anything, we had to

pay it all, but at least with having prescriptions from my doctor for both

things, we didn't have to pay any sales tax. Just a hint in case someone

doesn't know this. You can get a bbq grill cover as rain protection for

your scooter!

Darcy

June 2, 2008

Thanks everyone for all the valuable information you provided. I have

an appointment this week with my Rheumy and I will ask him about the

scooter. I am only 45 and not on medicare. While at Disney I was

sitting in a wheel chair next to a man who had a small scooter that he

said came apart in pieces. He loved it and said he only paid 800.00

on line for it. Having no experience or knowledge about these things I

did not know if that was good or not.

Gentle hugs,

>

> My doctor told me that she had never seen an insurance company cover a

> scooter without you being totally housebound/can't walk 3' without

it. She

> wrote me a prescription for one, so off to the medical supply store

I went.

> It turns out she was right (dh's insurance was changing, so we

checked with

> the company before the switch and after the switch). They would

only cover

> chairs, not scooters, and you had to have a whole lot of different

> treatments that I didn't need (I wanted it for fatigue, they wanted

> treatments done for pain) before they'd even think about it. We got an

> Invacare, Lynx model. I like it, but it doesn't have a great turning

> radius. I would look for a better one of those if I had to replace it.

> It's suppose to break apart, but it's hard to do so, and is really

heavy.

> We just got an electric lift to take it around with. Doctor wrote a

> prescription for that too. Since insurance didn't pay anything, we

had to

> pay it all, but at least with having prescriptions from my doctor

for both

> things, we didn't have to pay any sales tax. Just a hint in case

someone

> doesn't know this. You can get a bbq grill cover as rain protection

for

> your scooter!

> Darcy

>

June 2, 2008

my insurance paid 80% and my medicare paid the balance

marla

June 2, 2008

You should be able to deduct it from your taxes next year if you itemize and

have enough medical deductions to qualify for it - these costs along with

co-pays, RX's, etc. really add up after a while, but you still have to

exceed the percentage the government states before you can deduct medical.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of catstamp

Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 6:11 AM

Subject: Re: [ ] scooters etc.