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10-25-2003 - 10:55 a.m.
The Power Chair About a month ago, one of Michael�s clients rolls into our office in a sparkly new power chair. It�s red and fierce looking. The freakin� Cadillac of wheelchairs. We oooh and ahhh over his fine new ride. HIV has left this man with serious mobility problems and the chair will open new opportunities for him. 
Your tax dollars at work. I am mostly teasing when I say �I want shiny new red powerchair too�. My days of running 5 miles after a 12hr shift may be over, but I can still walk short distances. I use a cane and take advantage of handicapped parking. Sometimes I ride the scooter at the grocery store, sometimes I don�t. Drag my ass all over the Pacific Northwest for 2 weeks and I might need a little assistance at the end of the day, but I am not ready for a $6,000 wheelchair. Mikey�s client says to me �Dr J, you should get one of these fine new rides for yourself.� He offers me a business card from one of the nifty sidepockets of the chair. Satisfied customers are always your best advertising Here�s the deal: The Company that supplies them does all the paperwork and they claim that if your doctor orders a chair for you and they can�t get your insurance company or Medicare/Medicaid to pay for it, they will give it to you for free. I laugh that I don�t think it would fit in the Miata and we all get back to work. In retrospect, I don�t recall telling the man �No, it hasn�t quite come to that yet, Goddess be praised� A few days later a representative from the Scooter Store contacts me. Our client has made a referral. We chat a bit. Well, yes my slight disability keeps me from doing all the things I used to. I don�t run those 5 miles after work any more and now I have to be careful about what I eat. I avoid stairs and standing in line about kills me. Apparently I answer enough �YES� questions to pre-qualify. If they could just have the name of my physician... So we go off on vacation and when I get back it�s nothing but work, work, work and the World Series. I have forgotten all about powerchairs until the phone rings on Wednesday. My doctor ordered it. Our insurance company agreed to pay 80%. Some supplemental insurance that I didn�t even know about will pay 80% of the remaining 20%. Final cost to me is.....ready.... $27! �When can they deliver?� �Uhhhh, Friday?� I said On Friday a perky little girl named Sally arrives at the office with my fine new ride. She shows me all the bells and whistles. She gets out her wrenches and ratchets and adjusts the damn thing so it ergonomically perfect for my body. We take it for a test drive around the block and admire the fall foliage. It�s like a Lazy Boy Recliner on wheels. Sally takes a check for $27 and leaves $6,000 worth of state of the art equipment with me. $27. Less than I have to pay for a 30 day supply of my arthritis medicine, Celebrex. �Ack!� I said to my co-workers, feeling guilty. As healthcare providers we are all acutely aware of the times when our clients may have really needed goods and services and couldn�t get funding �But you might need it someday, JJ� they counsel. This does not make me feel any better. It might be true, but I don�t want to need it someday! �Maybe you can be Stephen Hawking for Halloween� Mikey suggests
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