Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deane Beebe
Communications Director
212-204-6219
dbeebe@medicarerights.org
Medicare Rights CenterMay 6, 2005
Statement on New, Medicare National Coverage Criteria of Power Wheelchairs and Other Mobility Equipment New York, NY – Below is a statement from Robert M. Hayes, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer group, regarding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ announcement about the new, national coverage criteria for mobility assistive equipment, including power wheelchairs and scooters.
“The national coverage decision issued today on wheelchairs and other mobility devices by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services maintains an antiquated and illegal policy that will keep tens of thousands of Americans in cruel and unnecessary isolation.
“That isolation will lead to greater illness, dependence and higher health care costs.
“Today’s national coverage decision maintains a long obsolete Administration policy that pays 80 percent of the cost of a power wheelchair for a person with Medicare who needs it to move from a bedroom to a kitchen, but not for a person who requires the wheelchair to leave home for medical care, shopping or even employment. The policy imprisons people in their homes and is based on an outdated reading of the Medicare law.
“It is now the 21st century: changes in technology, medicine and law require coverage of equipment that allows people with disabilities to have a productive life outside the four walls of their homes.
“It is time for the White House to intervene. President George H.W. Bush championed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). President George W. Bush has repeatedly said he too supports allowing maximum independence for people with disabilities.
“It is now apparent that CMS will not support a realistic and humane policy that will free thousands of people with disabilities to a fuller life in their communities without direction from the White House or the courts.
“Existing law, common sense, and common decency cry out to change a policy that sentences people with disabilities to needless isolation.”
Details on these issues can be found in The Medicare Rights Center’s study “Forcing Isolation: Medicare ‘In the Home’ Coverage Standard for Wheelchairs,” at http://www.medicarerights.org/policybrief_03162004.pdf.