My Mother, who has Alzheimer's, is in a Nursing Home. She fell and broke her hip 10 months ago and after surgery went to rehab and then onto a nursing home. The rehab facility ordered her a wheelchair and told me her insurance would pay for it. She used the wheelchair until last month when I received a bill for $400 from the company that it was being supplied through. I called them and they said her insurance denied the claim. Her insurance said it was because a new year rolled over and her deductible had not yet been met and then they said since she was in a nursing home, that facility should be the one that supplied the wheelchair anyway. The nursing home verified this was true and promised to supply her with one. I called the rental place and told them what I was told and they sent someone out THAT DAY to pick up the wheelchair. Most people who are placing their LO in a nursing home have no experience in doing so. How are we supposed to know these things? How often are we taken advantage of? We had to put Mother into a Medicaid situation because she simply ran out of money and a LTC insurance refused to pay. Getting bills after the fact means this has to be paid by me and I am retired, living a very frugal lifestyle. Is there a foundation, etc that helps people understand what their rights and expectations should be when placing a LO in a home? I am not talking about help with paying something I just mean is there a place to go for information. I guess mostly we don't even know what questions to ask must less where to go for info. Finding out who I should have talked to afterwards is a sad commentary on our society and the way it treats our elderly. How can we change this?
https://www.payingforseniorcare.com/financial-assistance/paying-for-wheelchairs-and-scooters.html
I hope you can get some info here from some who knows about these things. The only thing that I was told by the AL's and MC facilities, is that they (Medicare) won't cover it. They couldn't tell me why, but, they were right. The wheelchair purchase was not approved. The requests were denied, EVEN with doctor's confirmation. Go figure.
I will say that the local Senior Center had wheelchairs that the public could check out for FREE until your own one arrives. I found out about this service, but was never able to use it.