What about Electric Wheelchairs and Medicare?

When the time comes that you, an aging parent, or another loved one needs to use an electric wheelchair for mobility purposes, it may be difficult to work one into your budget. After all, electric wheelchairs are substantially more expensive than manual chairs, and private insurance will only kick in to help pay for them under certain circumstances. At this point, rather than deplete the person’s financial resources unnecessarily, you should check to see if the person will qualify to have Medicare help pay for some or all the chair that they need.

There are strict guidelines for getting Medicare to foot the bill for an electric wheelchair. These guidelines include:

The patient is unable to sustain a normal quality of life due to lack of mobility.

The patient has the ability to operate the chair’s controls.

Extreme weakness in arms and shoulders won’t allow the patient to get by with a manual chair.

The patient has excessive weakness due to spinal, brain, or muscle conditions.

The patient spends all of his time either lying in bed or sitting in a chair instead of moving around.

The patient hasn’t filed an insurance claim for an electric wheelchair within the last 5 years.

In addition, the patient will need to procure a prescription for the power wheelchair from an orthopaedic surgeon, rheumatologist, or certified neurologist rather than from a primary care physician. If your loved one meets these specifications and is eligible for Medicare, chances are good that he or she will qualify for Medicare payment to cover the expenses incurred in buying an electric wheelchair.

Find out what additional charges you are going to face with a powerized chair, and learn Medicare’s guidelines in order to determine if they will pay for just the chair or if they’ll pay for the additional costs involved. You should also find out if Medicare and supplementary insurances will cover the entire cost of the electric wheelchair or if you’ll be expected to come up with a co-pay.

Medicare statistics have proven that people with increased mobility are less likely to sustain falls, broken hips, and other injuries. Therefore, during the past decade, the agency has become more willing to grant requests for assistance in the purchase of electric wheelchairs.

For more info visit http://www.wheelchariot.com.