Medicare Cuts Power Wheelchair Payments

The federal agency in charge of the Medicare program will be cutting payments for power wheelchairs by about 35% on November 15. This sudden change leaves Americans with disabilities who require new power wheelchairs in a bind. It also may put out of business companies who produce this product.

From the Washington Times:

Across the country, large and small suppliers of wheelchairs are concerned about the effect the payment cuts will have on their businesses and beneficiaries with severe diseases such as muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy or spinal cord injury victims, who most often purchase power wheelchairs.

"It's clear we won't be able to supply the same products and service that we have in the past. These prices are just absurd. This policy change is motivated strictly by saving money, and does not take into effect the devastating effect it will have on the consumer, supplier or manufacturer. Someone should lose their job over this," said Jim Greatorex, president of Maine-based Black Bear Medical, a leading supplier of home medical equipment in the Northeast.

Invacare Corp., an Ohio-based company and the largest manufacturer of power wheelchairs in the country, has hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in the power wheelchair market.

"This is a devastating blow to rehabilitation providers across the country,"said Cara Bachenheimer, vice president of government affairs for Invacare. "Most suppliers do not have the kind of margins to sustain these cuts."

Unfortunately, these savings for the federal government will harm Americans who need power wheelchairs, many of whom are severely disabled and immobile without the device. Businesses may also struggle to survive in the face of these cuts.