Transportation and mobility are essential parts of American culture, offering personal freedom, independence, access to employment, and community engagement. Imagine this: You could get the cost of your car or bike covered by insurance, but first you’d have to prove you needed to use it at home to enable you to brush your teeth, bathe, dress, or eat.

Sound ridiculous? It is. Yet, this is the reality for disabled individuals with Medicare who need a wheelchair. Under the current Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ “use in the home” policy for Medicare, the program will only cover the cost of a wheelchair if an enrollee can prove they need it at home to conduct those activities of daily living.

In a Health Affairs Forefront blog post, CHCS board members Melanie Bella, MBA, and Henry Claypool, along with CHCS staff member Sarah Triano, discuss Medicare’s “use in the home” policy and its impact on people with disabilities who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Melanie Bella is an Executive Advisor at Cressey & Company and former Chair of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission; Henry Claypool is the former Director of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office on Disability; and Sarah Triano is the Associate Director of Long-Term Services and Supports and Disability Policy at CHCS.