It’s been a couple of years, but I’m sure many of you remember Matt Taibbi’s description of a Tea Party rally in Kentucky:
Scanning the thousands of hopped-up faces in the crowd, I am immediately struck by two things. One is that there isn’t a single black person here. The other is the truly awesome quantity of medical hardware: Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression — “Government’s not the solution! Government’s the problem!” — the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.
“The scooters are because of Medicare,” he whispers helpfully. “They have these commercials down here: ‘You won’t even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!’ Practically everyone in Kentucky has one.”
A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can’t imagine it.
I’m sure that not “everybody” in Kentucky got a power scooter. But it appears the power scooter industry is very unhappy with the feds days, because they’re tightening up on the power scooter give-a-ways.
Wheelchair suppliers raised concerns Wednesday about a new government program that requires Medicare contractors to sign off before power wheelchairs can be delivered to elderly and disabled consumers.
Federal health officials countered that the changes are needed because nearly 80 percent of the power wheelchair claims submitted to Medicare don’t meet program requirements. That error rate represents more than $492 million in improper payments annually.
Reading between the lines a bit — it seems two different kinds of fraud have been going on. Some people in the motorized scooter industry are making money on improper payments, obviously. But it also appears some of the old folks are being scammed into thinking that they’re getting a free chair and only find out after delivery that they have to pay for it, because they don’t meet Medicare requirements for getting it for free.
So in a test program, Medicare is tightening up on the motor-scooter-application process. The old folks have to meet face-to-face with a doctor first, who writes a prescription for the chair. Then an authorization request is sent to Medicare by either the doctor or the chair supplier. The chair cannot be delivered until after Medicare has approved the request.
An attorney for the Scooter Store complained that every request submitted under the new program has been denied. Can’t be good for business, I guess.
I shouldn’t be too sanguine about the power scooters, since with all my back issues I may end up needing one someday. But I have long wondered about all the advertisements on the teevee, whether there was really such a big volume of Medicare-paid scooters that it warranted the advertising. So now we know, there isn’t.
Sounds to me like the feds are doing the sensible thing and requiring confirmation of actual need by a qualified medical provider. Reducing government waste, in other words. But the feds will never win with some people.
I do like the catchy/kitschy faux-Sinatra jingle that our local Scooter Mart uses in its teevee ads, though. Hope it doesn’t go away entirely!
I may also eventually end up being a member of the Motorized Wheelchair Cavalry – just don’t expect me at any Teabagger rallies – so I won’t criticize the people who really need them.
I’ve seen those ads a thousand times, and it never occurred to me that there wasn’t SOME sort of control over getting one of the devices without paying for it out-of-pocket – something basic like, oh… uhm… I don’t know… maybe, like, a note/presciption from a doctor!
It sounds like some of these companies were taking advantage of the nativete of older people, AND the government.
And while I want the people who need them to get them, at no charge, I don’t think the government should have to pay for those who don’t really need them – they just want one.
BUT DAMN!
There goes a great idea I just had after reading this.
I coulda been rich, rich, rich! Socially secure!! A happy miser!!!
Pimping the Medicare scooter/wheelchair rides:
Custom rims that flash with ambulance lighting effects – siren optional.
Whitewall tires.
A horn that plays any Sinatra song you like.
A denture place holder.
A little refrigerator to keep your insulin in.
Oh, the possibilies are endless!
AND ALL PAID FOR BY MEDICARE AND MEDICAID!!!
Man, I’d have made a fortune.
There always has been a requirement that a doctor has to sign off on the need for the chair, but the “face to face” requirement in the test program makes me suspect some doctors (being paid under the table) were just phoning it in.
Joan
I swear, when my comment gets out of moderation, that I didn’t see yours first!
I spent many years working in rehab for people with disabilities. Whatever the causes, so many usable and expensive wheelchairs and scooters wind up wasting away in closets and storage rooms. There would definitely be ways of cutting some of the waste without denying help to people who need mobility aids. I suppose one good thing I can say about the people in the Tea Party is that at least they were using the scooters.
This is embarrassing, but, does anyone else get scooter offers in their spam trap? I get them about as frequently as I win free Dell laptops.
Of course this is another area where successful, job creating entrepreneurs are benefiting from government programs. I can’t believe they can’t see the market shrinkage that would come with reduced government aid.
WAAAY OT – and I’m sure many of you have seen this last part of the Hitler movie with subtitles about any number of different things.
But this one, I swear – I almost wet myself!
Hitler finds out about the secret tape of Mitt’s speech:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/hitler-finds-out-about-romneys-secret-video
Gulag – great minds, etc.
Sinatra is a natural for the Scooter generation; although one day soon it will be Springsteen… then Eddie Vetter… then Kanye. By which time, the fates willing, I will be cold in the ground!
I want a motor scooter that plays “Here Comes the Sun.”
I want my motor scooter to play Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild.”
“Get your motor running, head out on the highway,
Looking for adventure in whatever comes our way.”
I bet that would get respect at my future Medicaid Retirement Home!
You know, of course, that Chris Christie uses a Rascal to haul his fat ass around the New Jersey statehouse, don’t you? That worthless, obese pile of feces is too fat to walk on his own. Some investigative journalist should find out whether Medicare or another governmental agency pays for it or not. I’m guessing that I’d the case for this bloated hypocrite!
We once tried to organize a precision wheelchair marching unit to take part in the Gasparilla Day parade in Tampa. We had some pretty cool moves, but, it never came to pass. We could have used some of cundgulag’s accessories.
What’s that a six volt?