WASHINGTON – Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) are pushing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure that people with disabilities can access the mobility equipment that they need to live independently.

The Senators are requesting that CMS conduct a comprehensive review of its coverage of mobility assistive equipment for Medicare beneficiaries. Under its current interpretation, CMS only covers mobility assistive equipment – such as wheelchairs, canes, and scooters – that is considered reasonable and necessary for daily life activities that occur within the home. The Senators are asking for a reassessment of this standard to ensure that individuals with disabilities can get the support they need to live independently and to participate in their communities.

“Current Medicare coverage limitations on equipment used outside the home can limit patients’ access to mobility equipment and to their communities…[The current Medicare] interpretation can lead to coverage denials for wheelchair users and cause delays in obtaining appropriate equipment. These delays can result in health injuries and secondary health conditions, increasing costs for the program and taxpayers,” the Senators wrote in a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and Department of Health and Human Services General Counsel Samuel Bagenstos. “Timely access to [mobility assistive equipment] can enable beneficiaries with disabilities to fully participate in community life.”

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