Next Trip to Jefferson City

Memebers of the Coalition will be going to Jefferson City again on Tuesday, February 5th. If you would like to come along and speak with legislators to tell your story or express your opinion, please contact Jeff Damerall at (314) 965-2255 (extension 17).

Activists Visit Senators

From Left: Bill McLellan (P&O Care), Jeff Dameral (Chairman), Jean Freeman (Secretary; O&P Design), Jim Weber (P&O Care).

Last Tuesday, activists from the Missouri Coalition for People with Limb Loss visited Jefferson City for appointments with two Republican Senators. Senator Kevin Engler, Majority Whip, and Senator Scott Rupp both expressed sincere support for prosthetic parity. They did not know and could not believe that insurance companies in Missouri claim to cover prosthetic limbs while capping coverage at less than a fourth of what they actually cost.

While Republicans generally have a hard time with insurance mandates, they agreed that prosthetic parity is not a traditional mandate. It simply requires insurance companies to cover what they claim to cover and stop taking advantage of employers and individuals who have no idea how much a prosthesis costs. Senators Rupp and Engler, as well as other Representatives we met with in the hallways of the State Capitol, want working Missourians who tragically and suddenly loose limbs to be able to return to work instead of becoming dependent on Medicaid.

It looks like prosthetic parity has broad bi-paritisan support in Missouri, but we are still looking for a Republican Senator and Representative who has the time and dedication to sponsor our bill in their houses of Congress. It takes more than sincere support; we need to become a priority on the 2008 legislative agenda, and for that to happen, individuals across the state need to contact their Senators and Representatives and write letters to the editors of their local newspapers in support of prosthetic parity legislation.

Most persuasive are the personal stories of working Missourians like Jeff and Jean who lead the Missouri Coalition, real people who have suffered from hidden caps on prosthetic coverage.

Morgan Sheets: Letter about State and Federal Prosthetic Parity Bills

Dear Editor: Currently, due to archaic insurance regulations, prosthetic care is being put out of reach for many amputees in Wisconsin. Insurance plans are restricting or even eliminating coverage for prostheses. This is a matter that Congress must address.

In return for premiums paid for private health insurance, consumers expect to be covered for catastrophic illness or injury. They expect that their monthly premiums will provide them with the most basic of care, including prostheses.

Policy reports regarding prosthetic parity laws from Colorado, Massachusetts, California, New Jersey and Virginia suggest that the costs are minimal -- anywhere from 12 to 25 cents per member per month.

If amputees are prevented from accessing prosthetic care, this increases state Medicaid costs due to complications. The subsequent cost to the health care system far exceeds that of providing prosthetic care, while the lack of productivity places a huge burden on society.

Prosthetic parity bills have been launched all over the country, including in the state of Wisconsin. A federal prosthetic parity bill is going to be introduced next year. This bill would ensure that prostheses are treated the same as other basic, essential care.

Please urge your member of Congress to co-sponsor the federal parity bill when it is introduced. We must give people with limb loss the care they need to fully participate in society!

Morgan Sheets, national advocacy director, Amputee Coalition of America, Washington, D.C.A letter to the editor.

Let's start compiling our stories!

The Amputee Activist is the new blog of the Missouri Coalition for People with Limb Loss. We want it to be a place where amputees and their friends can share stories about our experience, especially the hardship created by unfair hidden caps on prosthetic coverage in private healthcare insurance policies.

Contact Bill McLellan at bmclellan[at]pandocare.com if you would like permission to contribute new posts to this blog. Anyone can post a comment on any blog post without an ID from Google or Blogger, but authors of new posts will need to get an ID. All you have to do is register your current e-mail, if you don't want a new gmail account, and create a password.

Benefits of Prosthetic Parity Legislation

• Allowing individuals to return to work (and to paying taxes) following the loss of a limb with a moderate increase of monthly insurance premiums estimated from 12¢ to 35¢ per member per month.
• Preventing the onset (or delaying the onset) of secondary conditions.
• Cost savings in unemployment insurance, state employment and training programs, rehabilitation and counseling programs, and other social welfare programs. [It is estimated that every dollar spent on rehabilitation, including prosthetic care, saves more than $11 in disability benefits.]
• Preventing individuals from going into or furthering debt. [A growing number of group and private health insurance companies are capping prosthetic benefits at levels like $2500 or $4000 when the average cost of an above the knee prosthesis is $15,000-$20,000 and a below the knee prosthesis is $8,000-$10,000.]