The Amputee Coalition of America is working state-by-state and at the federal level to insure that all amputees have access to health insurance that pays for their prosthetic needs.

The Veteran’s Administration, the Department of Defense, Automobile Insurance, Workmen’s Compensation Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), state vocational rehabilitation, and some private insurance polices cover prosthetics.  

The problem is that a growing number of group and private insurance companies cap the benefit so low that the average working family can’t afford a prosthesis. Other insurance companies are creating lifetime caps or eliminating coverage completely. 

Current changes in insurance plans are having a devastating effect on amputees and their families. For example, companies will pay the surgical cost of amputating a limb, and for subsequent amputations caused by inactivity, while simultaneously limiting or even eliminating prosthetic coverage. Other payers impose such unrealistic annual and lifetime caps on prosthetic coverage that people with limb loss are unable to obtain prostheses.

The following states have enacted prosthetic parity laws: Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, New Jersey, Indiana,  Vermont, and Louisiana.

For more information about prosthetic coverage in your insurance policy, please contact our office at 516-681-3484. For more details about prosthetic parity laws in your state, the federal legislation that the ACA is lobbying for in Washington, or how to get involved in the prosthetic parity effort contact the ACA at: 

Amputee Coalition of America, P.O. Box 73725, Washington, D.C. 20056
Phone:  (202) 742-1886   Fax:  (866) 599-8994   E-mail: federal@amputee-coalition.org      
Toll-Free: 1-888-AMP-KNOW
Website: http://www.amputee-coalition.org/advocacy/index.html