[Blind-rollers] Funding For Wheelchair Equipment in Jeopardy!

[Danielle Ledet]

Has anybody seen this? SSI is not being increased next year as well!

Funding for Wheelchair Equipment in Serious Jeopardy
Bob Vogel | Nov 01, 2015 | Comments 0 |   Send a letter to the editor
pmilogoWhat is CMS thinking? How can making wheelchairs more expensive
and harder to obtain be good for anyone?
On Jan. 1, 2016 it will become much more difficult, and in some cases
impossible, to get Medicare to pay for seating and positioning
equipment including wheelchair cushions, wheelchair backs, controllers
and other items deemed “accessories” that wheelchair users need. This
is because of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Final
Rule 1614-F, which is scheduled to take effect in January 2016. It
will reduce how much they will pay for complex rehab technology (CRT).
Anything beyond a standard (hospital or “drugstore style”) wheelchair
is considered CRT.
These cuts will make it much more difficult, and in many cases
impossible, to get funding for the proper seating and positioning
equipment that users of complex manual and/or complex power
wheelchairs need to stay healthy. To make matters worse, private
insurance companies and Medicaid programs generally follow Medicare
payment guidelines.
It is vital to stop these reimbursement cuts and it is up to each of
us to do so. Go to wh.gov/iQ51K to sign a White House petition to stop
Medicare from making these cuts. For the petition to actually go to
the White House it needed 100,000 signatures by October 23, 2015. At
press time it had a ways to go, so it is still imperative that people
contact their representatives and let them know how devastating the
proposed action would be.
United Spinal is working with a range of stakeholders in the
disability community to fight this change, including the National
Multiple Sclerosis Society, Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation,
Paralyzed Veterans of America, the ALS Association, Muscular Dystrophy
Association as well as the National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab
Technology and the American Association for Homecare. To find out how
you can help more, visit access2crt.org/protectmyindependence or
unitedspinal.org/action-center.

-- 
Danielle

Email: singingmywayin at gmail.com