TEXAS PROSTHETIC PARITY BILL PASSED!

PLEASE SUPPORT PROSTHETIC PARITY ARMS AND LEGS SHOULD NOT BE A "LUXURY"

• Healthcare Insurance companies have dramatically restricted or limited coverage for prosthetic and orthotic care. Some companies cap limits at amounts that will not cover a prosthesis. Others provide for only one per lifetime. Others are eliminating coverage all together.
  
  
• Prosthetic Parity would establish a minimum level of coverage for amputees requiring a prosthesis deemed medically necessary by a physician. This minimum coverage would equal Medicare coverage-no more. Monthly insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-payments would still be paid by the amputee.
  
  
• Currently, amputees are paying insurance premiums, but when prosthetic coverage is denied they have to resort to state programs for assistance or go without prosthetics.
  
  
• While this is a small segment of the population, the current situation impacts a much larger population due to loss in wages and the cost shifting from private to public care.
  
  
• Costs currently passed on to Texas agencies such as Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) would be substantially reduced. Prosthetic Parity would also result in substantial reductions of insurance spending on associated complication.
  
  
• 13 states have passed Prosthetic Parity. Studies from those states has shown a mere increase of anywhere from 12 cents to 35 cents per month per policy.
  
  
• In 2007, the Texas Legislative Budget Board looked at the prosthetic parity bill in Texas and John S. O'Brien, Director of the Texas Legislative Budget Board said, "There is no fiscal implication to the State. There is a cost savings to the State."
  
  
• For the most up to date information on prosthetic parity, visit the Amputee & Prosthetic Center Blog