The Saga Continues

I think everyone who works at an insurance company should me made to spend one day – just one day – in a wheelchair.

If the people on the other end of the phone had to put up with as much as we do on a daily basis, they would not take such pleasure in making it next to impossible for us to get the equipment that we need.

Who knows better than us or our doctors and therapists what equipment would benefit us physically or just make our lives a little easier? Insurance companies do ask for a statement of medical need from a physician, and then they ignore it and turn down the equipment anyway.

I couldn’t get the exercise bike I needed last year, I can’t get an iBOT this year, one of my friends needed a standing frame to strengthen her leg muscles and was turned down. There’s really no helpful advice I can give except to keep trying. Keep after the insurance company to get an answer and keep fighting if you are turned down for something that has been prescribed and that you feel you need.

As of this writing, there is still no word on an iBOT. The chair has been approved by my insurance company but the insurance company in New Jersey, where the iBOT is made, won’t tell Independence Technologies how much they will actually pay in reimbursement and Independence Technologies can’t order the chair until they know if they’ll be paid.

Dreams of the iBOT have gone out the window. Since no one is cooperating, I won’t get one unless I miraculously win the lottery and can buy it outright with no insurance companies to hinder me. So now I’m just concentrating on getting a wheelchair that works and hasn’t had to have every part on it replaced.