Medicare Cuts Jeopardize Power Wheelchair Owners
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As some Medicare funding cuts roll into the Triangle, patients with special needs who depend on power wheel chairs and scooters could be stopped in their tracks.
The government keeps cutting the amount of money paid to local medical suppliers. It's a move that could force them out of business and leave some patients caught in the middle.
"Because I have cerebral palsy, I need to use my wheelchair everyday....," 23-year-old Jenny LaRocco said.
Everyday, instead of a stroll, it's a motorized roll for LaRocco.
"My wheelchair is basically my legs," she said.
LaRocco is returning home from a job she works as a camp counselor. She enjoys her independence with the help of her motorized chair. "I carry my purse on my chair, I carry my bags. "I have special buttons on my chair," LaRocco said. "I can layback during the day if I need to... I can stretch out my body."
LaRocco fears cuts in Medicare coverage could force her to exchange her power chair for a manual chair.
"Most people with a disability. They don't want people pushing them around in wheelchairs all day," she says.
That's the message motivating medical suppliers across the country to unite in Washington, D.C. to block a cut in Medicare spending on power wheelchairs that could garnish as much as $900 million over the next 10 years.
Medical equipment supplier Marcia Ladd owns and operates Triangle Aftercare, a medical needs store with locations in Durham and Roxboro. She says another Medicare cut would add to many recent moves by Congress that have already crippled suppliers.
"This time last year Medicare reimbursed me $5500 to put out a power wheelchair.," Ladd said. "The end of last year they cut the reimbursement down to $3500."
It's a drop in the bucket when you consider the real cost of Jenny's wheelchair at $11,000.
Short-changed suppliers carry a huge burden, but Marcia believes in the end, patients young and old pay the biggest price.
"If I'm no longer here, who's going to take care of the little old lady at two o'clock in the morning as she lays dying," Ladd said.
Jenny LaRocco adds, "I don't have the money to pay for it and my family doesn't have the money to pay for it, so where am I going to get it from."
Medicare cuts would apply to all power wheel chairs and scooters. Suppliers are now subject to a competitive bidding process.
Congressman David Price's office released a statement related to the proposal:
"As Medicare moves to a competitive bidding system for durable medical equipment, the government must ensure that the new system does not compromise patient care or put homecare providers at a disadvantage. In order to maintain quality care and fair competition, I have urged Medicare to adopt essential safeguards, and I will continue working in Congress to ensure that it does."
