ALBERTSON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thousands of amputees in New York State are finding out that they cannot be fitted with the prosthetic limbs they need to lead healthy, productive lives due to insurance restrictions on prosthetic care.
New York State’s benchmark health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) limits coverage for prosthetic limbs to “one prosthesis per limb per lifetime.”1 The Affordable Care Act is supposed to prohibit yearly or lifetime caps on Essential Health Benefits. Although children are exempt from this limitation2, adults are not. Since 91 percent of amputations performed in NYS were on patients 45 years old and older3, this restriction is a major problem for virtually all prosthetic-using amputees in New York.
Prosthetic limbs do not last forever. Amputees who walk with a prosthesis regularly experience changes in their residual limbs, necessitating they be fitted with new prostheses. This is why a group of prosthetists, community activists, leaders of top disability and amputee associations, individuals living with limb loss and the people who care about fair practices have joined forces to create http://www.onelimbforlife.com. The website features an online petition to change the “One Prosthetic Limb Per Lifetime” restrictions in New York State. In just over 2 weeks over 5,000 people have signed the petition. Visit www.onelimbforlife.com to learn more about this restriction and view the petition.
At the head of this fight for justice is Progressive O&P, Inc. located in Albertson, NY. Dan Bastian, co-owner, certified prosthetist and amputee, has been helping to organize the petition as well as personally meeting with New York state legislators to bring this issue to their attention. “I wouldn’t be able to run my business, employ all these people and coach my kid’s teams if I was limited to the first prosthetic I received,” said Bastian.
You Can Help
Read, sign and share the petition at http://www.onelimbforlife.com
Share
on Twitter #onelimbforlife
Write
your local and state representatives here and share the petition
with them.
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1 http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Data-Resources/Downloads/NY.pdf.
2
http://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Data-Resources/Downloads/new-york-ehb-benchmark-plan.pdf.
3
Amputee Coalition research. The Amputee Coalition is a consumer
organization representing the interests of people with limb loss
