Healthcare Reform

→ Background: The ACA feels that any healthcare reform proposal that truly gets at improving health systems and enhancing access must address the healthcare needs of people with limb loss.

→ Status:

The Affordable Health Choices Act successfully passed through the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Many of the provisions will greatly improve the lives of people with limb loss including the insurance market reforms, including guaranteed issue and renewal of coverage in the individual and small group markets, the prohibition of pre-existing health condition exclusions, and the end of annual and lifetime insurance caps with a limit on out of pocket spending.

After hard work by our activists, our partners and thousands of disability advocates, we are thrilled that the Affordable Health Choices includes coverage of rehabilitation and habilitation “devices” as well as services in the essential benefits package. This statutory language establishes coverage for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) which are critical to people with limb loss.

The current version of the House Education and Labor healthcare reform legislation includes language ensuring access to durable medical equipment, orthotics and prosthetics. We need to ensure that the final House version includes protections for assistive devices.

We will continue to work with the committees, their staff and our coalition partners to secure final passage of meaningful and comprehensive health reform legislation that meets the needs of all Americans this year.

→ Take action today! Make sure prosthetic devices are part of healthcare reform!! Click here to take action.

Moving Forward: We will continue to meet with lawmakers and other key leaders to ensure that the policies take into account the particular needs of people with limb loss, as well as to work with our coalition partners and policy leaders to shape the discussion around this important policy initiative. We are also working with a number of coalition partners and groups to advance policies aimed at ensuring that healthcare reform will help protect access to the care that amputees need!

Recent letters include:

A push to eliminate the two year waiting period,
Work to ensure coverage of prosthetic devices, and
Another push around health disparities.

We have worked hard to make sure that the voices of people with limb loss are heard in this discussion.

ü The ACA joined 117 other health and disability groups in calling for improvements to the “Affordable Health Choices Act". Click here to read the letter.

ü The Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) is a coalition of 100 member groups working on behalf of people with disabilities. The ACA joined the CCD in submitting a response to the "Affordable Health Choices Act". Click here to read the letter.

ü Click here to read the ACA’s letter to the Senate HELP committee on the “Affordable Health Choices Act”.

ü Click here to read the ACA's letter to Chairman Kennedy and Sen. Enzi regarding the need to include people with disabilities in a comprehensive health care disparities category.

ü We are specifically focused on a number of principles that must be met for any benefit package or policy concept to truly meet the needs of all Americans. Click here to read the ACA’s “Principles for Health Care Reform from the Perspective of People with Limb Loss”.

For more information about our efforts on the state or federal campaigns, contact the Government Relations Department at 202/742-1885 or Dan@amputee-coalition.org.

*This page is funded by the ACA and not supported with CDC grant funding. Views expressed in the contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the ACA.