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brooksea

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How will this affect you?

From the MDA newsletter:

Medicare Benefit Threatened
Power wheelchair users urged to speak up to preserve first-month purchase option

People who receive a power wheelchair through Medicare may lose the option to buy the chair immediately, under a proposed change to Medicare rules being considered by committees dealing with healthcare reform in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The proposed rule change would eliminate the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs provided by Medicare, requiring all Medicare beneficiaries to wait 13 months before owning their chairs.

This extended period before ownership could lead to two problems for consumers, warns Annie Kennedy, MDA’s vice president of advocacy. It could result in fewer power wheelchair options being available to consumers from authorized providers, and in consumers losing access to their uniquely customized power chairs if they have to go into the hospital or other care facility during the 13 months before ownership.

MDA’s Advocacy program urges interested Medicare consumers to contact their representatives about the proposed rule change.

Consumers prefer owning to renting

Under current regulations, people who obtain a power wheelchair through Medicare have the option of buying the chair any time during the first month after it’s provided by a Medicare-authorized provider. If they chose to purchase during the first month, Medicare reimburses the provider at government-approved rates for the chair’s cost.

If Medicare beneficiaries don’t choose to buy the chair during the first month, then Medicare rents the chair for them from the provider for 13 months. The first day after the 13th rental month, title to the chair is conveyed to the beneficiary. During the 13-month rental period, the chair belongs to the provider.

More than 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries choose the first-month purchase option because the chairs are highly customized for the users’ unique needs, and beneficiaries don’t want to risk losing them if they enter the hospital or other professional care facility during the 13-month rental period.

A Medicare beneficiary’s prescription for a rental wheelchair is temporarily “discontinued” while he or she is in such a facility, and the chair reverts back to the provider, who can pick it up and rent it to someone else. When the beneficiary leaves the care facility and needs another chair, his/her original rental chair may be no longer available.

Providers want to recoup their investment

Providers purchase all the chairs they sell upfront – an expensive investment. They’re accustomed to receiving full payment during the first month for about 90 percent of the Medicare-authorized power chairs they provide. If legislation removes the first-month purchase option, providers instead will receive their payments over 13 months for these chairs.

As a result, providers in many cases may be financially unable to maintain inventories of wheelchairs with a variable range of capabilities, says Kennedy. This means wheelchair users may find it difficult to obtain chairs that meet their specific needs.

‘Take 5’ and speak up

Kennedy urges everyone who could be affected by this aspect of the health reform package to contact their members of Congress and tell them it’s imperative to retain the first-month purchase option for wheelchairs as part of Medicare benefits.

Interested consumers can “Take 5” – five minutes -- and reach out to their local representatives by using MDA’s online advocacy tools at www.mda.org/advocacy, or by calling the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

For more on this, see the MDA Advocacy Alert.
 
Thanks for the info CJ. I sent a copy to the company that provided Dad's chair.
Dana
 
Thank CJ, I was just going to sticky your message, keep me updated on anything you hear. Gosh this is unsettling times.
 
I have to say this. MDA is really beginning to get on my nerves. They are always coming in late to the fight and trying to grab all the glory. ALSA has been fighting this for months and changed it. Now all of the sudden MDA has to sound off. I had a discussion with ALSA in DC prior to Advocacy Days in May about this exact issue. The same thing when vets got presumptive service connection. Do you know how much MDA helped? I can tell you, NONE. Oh but when it came time to announce it they were right there to claim the glory. In fact they jumped the gun and pissed a bunch of people in DC off.

Not enough? Let me continue. There is a MDA rep at every ALSA clinic but at many MDA clinics ALSA reps are not allowed and lo and behold MDA doesn't know crap about the VA system. How do I know? Because probably 75% of the people who are lost are going to a MDA clinic and getting no help. If they want the glory then they should do the work.

brooksea, please don't think any of this is aimed at you they just yanked my chain the wrong way tonight ;)
 
Hey Jeff! No problem! This was just info I relayed from the MDA email letter I get.

Believe me, the MDA is very aggressive at our clinic in trying to recruit pALS to raise funds and convinced my husband to do so the first year. Now he gets very annoyed when they bug him at the clinic and feels he has "payed them back" so to speak and more.

The ALSA people are there at the clinic to provide REAL help and try to find out if you need anything. They also have a volunteer to provide snacks and drinks during the clinic visit.

The MDA has never offered any support other than paying for a visit when my husband was without insurance. He's paid that back many times over with the fundraiser.

We know where the true allegiance lies with this disease. I believe the MDA is too diversified, although they do provide a service.
 
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