Medicare wheelchair issues

November 15th 2006 sees some major changes in the way Medicare funds wheelchair needs. These usual reimbursements to providers of power wheelchairs to Medicare recipients are being slashed so these providers are refusing to supply the power chairs.

Without Medicare, a power wheelchair could cost up to $20,000 for an individual. In fact the leading manufacturer of power wheelchairs heard from these providers saying they won’t be purchasing as many chairs in the future due to the cuts in funding reimbursements.

Health and Human Services say they made the cuts due to eliminate fraud and higher prices charged to Medicare over regular customers, but it seems like they are just eliminating the benefit as well as the fraud. Some Senators are asking for a delay until a better solution can be found. Let’s hope for some relief.