Posted: March 11, 2024
Do you have Medicare and need your wheelchair replaced or repaired? Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) wants to hear from individuals that had wheelchair-related coverage turned down by Medicare, even after a qualified provider prescribed the wheelchair.
Medicare’s current policy is to only cover wheelchairs when they are needed in the home to help with a limited list of activities like eating, getting dressed, going to the bathroom, and bathing. This “In-Home Use” (“IHU”) policy means that people who can get by in their homes on their own or using crutches, a walker, or a basic manual wheelchair will be denied the more reliable wheelchair they need to leave their homes and participate in the community. Power and customized wheelchairs can cost thousands of dollars, and paying out of pocket for a power wheelchair is not possible for many people. Because of the IHU policy, people with mobility disabilities may not be able to independently go to the doctor or dentist, pick up medications at the pharmacy, grocery shop, or meet friends for a meal or attend a worship service. The policy segregates disabled people from their communities because they cannot safely leave their homes.
The discriminatory IHU policy can lead to medical, financial, and other harms. For example, have you been denied Medicare coverage for a wheelchair that you need to leave your home and had to delay medical care because you could not get to your appointment? Have you missed classes, job interviews, or important events like a graduation or travel? If you have had to pay for your wheelchair needs or experienced substantial delay or a dangerous situation in the community because Medicare decided you did not need a wheelchair “in your home,” please send us your story at info@dredf.org. If you need assistance with giving us your story, please contact Hongyu Min at info@dredf.org or (510) 644-2555.
DREDF will use these stories to help support our filing of a planned administrative complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Civil Rights to challenge the In-Home Use policy.