People with disabilities depend on wheelchairs and other DMEPOS. That’s why we have worked tirelessly to make sure that coverage of DMEPOS will be required of all health insurance policies offered through the insurance exchange contemplated by health care reform bills.
- DMEPOS stands for "Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies".
- Congressional committees do not agree on coverage of DMEPOS.
The controversial public option – a government-sponsored health insurance plan – may or may not be in the final bill, but if it is, it will be subject to the same rules as private insurers.
The five Congressional committees dealing with health care reform do not agree on requiring coverage of DMEPOS. In the House, the Education and Labor Committee bill requires coverage of DMEPOS, but the Energy & Commerce Committee and the Ways & Means Committee bills do not address DMEPOS.
In the Senate, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee listed “devices” rather than DMEPOS as a required insurance benefit. Committee staff has said the intent of this language is to cover DMEPOS. We would like to see language expressly listing DMEPOS as a covered benefit. The Senate Finance Committee is not expected to include DMEPOS as a required health insurance benefit.
The final outcome will not be known for some time – after a joint conference committee of the House and Senate considers how to meld the health care reform bills. We will continue to advocate that the final health reform bill will require health insurance policies to cover DMEPOS.
Andrew Morris, MPH
Director of Legislation,
Spinal Cord Advocates
President Obama wants to give the Republicans a final chance to really come up with brighter ideas before he whips his House Democratic Caucus to pass the Senate Health Bill as is (with a promise that it will be amended later) and signs it into the landmark law overhauling the broken healthcare delivery system.