SW Idaho Woman Presses for Better Prosthetic Plan
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 Rose Maloney sprained and scratched her right ankle in January of 2007 when a piece of sidewalk crumbled beneath her. Two months later her leg was amputated when an infection settled into the bone. Now, the Middleton woman wants Idaho lawmakers to require insurance companies to provide coverage equal to Medicare benefit levels for prosthetic limbs so that those who lose limbs can maintain productive lives. “Arms and legs are not luxuries,” Maloney told the Idaho Press-Tribune. Maloney said many individual policies place a lifetime cap on prosthetics that she said is unrealistic. She said amputees who cannot afford prosthetics or maintain ones they get often are unable to return to work and lead sedentary, dependent lifestyles that lead to additional medical problems. She said that can be avoided if insurers are required to provide the same coverage as Medicare. Medicare covers 80 percent of the cost for prosthetics from Medicare-enrolled suppliers after an annual deductible is met.Maloney said her insurance policy paid for her amputation, but classified prosthetic limbs as "durable medical," which includes such things as crutches, walkers and wheelchairs. She said she quickly exhausted her policy's $5,000 lifetime maximum for the category, well short of the nearly $18,000 her prosthetic eventually cost. “They took my leg, I figured they'd replace it,” Maloney said. She wanted to return to work, but spent 10 months in a wheelchair trying to get enough money to pay for the prosthetic herself. Her family sold a boat and held garage sales, and Maloney eventually found a prosthetist who agreed to let her pay as she was able. Some parts of her new leg need to be replaced or maintained every three to five years, continuing the expense. She said she was able to return to work, but diabetes complications unrelated to her amputation forced her to leave soon after. She is now working with Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, to bring a bill before state lawmakers next year that would require insurance companies to provide coverage equal to Medicare benefit levels. “Obviously nobody is going to take advantage of something like this,” Hill said. "Nobody is going to go and get their leg cut off to take advantage of the added coverage.” The Amputee Coalition of America said the average premium hike for upping the coverage is less than $2 per year in states that have passed bills. In Colorado, the first state to pass prosthetic parity law, a state-sponsored study found the added cost to be 12 cents per member per month. #
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