Medical Supply Companies, Medicaid, and the Madness: A Second Update of the Continued Debacle

Here we go again.

Yesterday, after not hearing from Bellevue Healthcare (BHC) for three days, I gave them a call; on Tuesday afternoon, my mom took my power chair to BHC to have a full diagnostic test preformed on it, but after three days of waiting, I decided that I had given them a sufficient amount of time to figure out what is wrong (or at least tell me they cannot find anything wrong) with my chair. 

When I called, the tech who said he would perform the diagnostic test, was not there. About fifteen minutes later, I received a call from that same guy; he informed me that the problem with my chair was a cable that is a part of the joystick, not the batteries. I requested that a new joystick be ordered. I also asked if the prescription -- indicating that I do indeed have a power chair and that I am in need of new batteries -- that my primary care physician faxed to the main BHC office, would be sufficient for Medicaid when ordering a joystick rather than batteries. The tech said no, and that my primary care physician should send a new prescription indicating that I am in need of a new joystick. I thought this would be the case. 

So, the two months that I waited to get new batteries has been a waste. Yes, even if BHC would have preformed the diagnostic test to begin with, I probably still would have had to wait on Medicaid, but at least the correct part would have already been in the process of being ordered. However, the two months could have been a shorter wait if BHC would have actually tried to figure out why Medicaid kept denying the approval of purchasing new batteries, sooner than they did. Fortunately, there is a positive side to this; if Medicaid had approved the new batteries right away, they would have arrived and not have been the solution to the problem. It is very possible that Medicaid would not have approved the joystick after sending new batteries. Never the less, both Medicaid and BHC have been culprits of not doing their job, and in turn, making me, the consumer, go to extreme lengths to get the product that I need. Neither Medicaid, nor BHC, act like other businesses; they know that those of us with disabilities need them, so they do not have to persuade us to utilize their services. The system is so far from being sufficient, and does not care about the people it was put in place to assist.  

I tried to be preventive; I went in to BHC when my chair began to act wonky. There is no reason that it should have taken this long to get where we are now. I feel as if I am back at square one, even after waiting for two months. I do not have any idea of how much longer I will be without my power chair -- my means of freedom -- and I do not even want to imagine how long it would have taken to fix my power chair if I would have waited until my chair actually died to begin this grueling process. 

I am absolutely sick of this system. 

Medical Supply Companies, Medicaid, and the Madness: An Update on the Debacle

The drama continues.

When Bellevue Healthcare (BHC) informed me that Medicaid did not have any record of me having a power chair, I made a request to my primary care physician to write a prescription and fax it to BHC, for Medicaid, indicating that I do indeed have a power chair, and that I am in need of batteries.

This past Monday, the prescription was faxed to BHC. At this point, the end of the waiting game seemed to be in sight; however, right after receiving the e-mail from my primary care physician indicating that the prescription had been sent to BHC, I was given new information that has thrown me for a loop, and I am unsure of what to do next.

While waiting for new batteries, I decided to utilize a local loan closet here in Bellingham, the Lion's Club. They were going to loan me batteries until I could get new ones, but when they checked my chair over, they realized that my batteries were just fine.  So, loaner batteries would not be beneficial to me. However, two months ago, when I described what was going on to the vendor at BHC, he was positive that the problem was the batteries. At that time, I should have been adamant that a full diagnostic test be preformed on my chair, but the guy at BHC is the expert, and I did not know any better. I do now.

Right after the Lion's Club told me that my batteries were fine, I ventured back over to BHC. My mom went in for me, and relayed the information (that the Lion's Club gave us) to BHC; she told them that the batteries were just fine, and that something else -- something unknown -- was causing the problem. She explained that we did not want to order batteries if the batteries were not the problem; we wanted them to first confirm that the batteries were in fact the problem, and then order new ones. However, they were too busy to help us, so my mom asked when a good time would be to bring back my chair, but they could not give her an answer.

I later received a call from the main BHC office; I was at lunch with a friend, so I did not answer. The same lady then called my mom (she has never called Mom before...). When my mom confirmed that we now wanted to wait to order batteries, the lady yelled at her. This lady was upset that after all the leg-work that they had done for us, we now wanted to hold off on getting the batteries. That is her job; she is paid to be a liaison between Medicaid and people who need medical supplies to be successful throughout the day. This whole situation barely touches her life, it is a little inconvenience to her while at work, but this is my life. So, please tell me why she has any right to be upset.

The lady at BHC also could not understand what my mom was talking about when she mentioned that we just now found out that the batteries were fine. Apparently BHC wrote up an entire report saying that they took my chair, did a full diagnostics test on it, and then came to the conclusion that my chair batteries were indeed dead. First of all, BHC did not take my chair; I offered to leave it, but the guy was adamant that it was the batteries. Second, no tests were preformed on my chair; all I did was explain what was going on, and it was obviously a battery problem. So, I ordered new batteries. The report was written because that is part of the procedure in getting new batteries; however, one important step was skipped. Actually checking the chair over may have been an important thing to do in the first place.

I also finally heard back from Northwest Regional Council (NWRC). A lady who works with my case manager, who is authorized to assist me, gave me a call. She was confirming what was going on. I am pretty sure that NWRC finally contacted me back in response to the call my counselor from Division  of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) made to my case manager at NWRC. Last Friday, I e-mailed my counselor at (DVR), and explained everything that was going on. She e-mailed me back Monday morning, and said she did not have any more ideas about what to do, that I had not already done, but she would give NWRC a call. She did, and NWRC responded! My counselor at DVR also said that DVR would help cover costs to repair my chair (which is legal).

Yesterday, BHC did call (after being called by NWRC), and asked my mom to bring in my chair. They are now going to do a full diagnostic test on my chair, and try to figure out what is actually wrong with it. Next time, I will insist that this is done in the first place.

Here's to continuing to play the waiting game, and praying that my chair can be fixed, and fixed quickly!

Medical Supply Companies, Medicaid and the Madness: My Debacle of Needing New Batteries

After two months of pursuing new batteries for my power chair, my chair has died. Back in February, I noticed that the gage on my chair -- that indicates the charge of the batteries that run my chair -- was acting wonky. This gage consists of three green bars, four yellow bars and three red bars. Typically, the bars gradually disappear to indicate the charge that is left in the batteries; it usually takes about twenty-five miles of driving to completely drain the batteries. However, on the day I began to notice it acting wonky, all of the green bars would all of a sudden disappear, then all the yellow bars would follow, then two of the red bars would disappear as well, leaving one blinking red bar (and this is all within a mile of driving my chair). The bars would then appear again -- without charging my chair -- which is not normal.

At the time, I lived near a medical supply company (MSC), Bellevue Healthcare (BHC), and I instantly went to this MSC to figure out what was wrong with my chair. BHC confirmed my suspicion that it was the batteries, and that they needed to be replaced. So, I ordered new batteries and I left. 

BHC informed me that it could take up to three weeks to receive the new batteries after my insurance company approved the order. BHC also told me that they would contact me when my insurance company did confirm the order. A week after I placed the order, BHC had yet to call me. When I checked in, the MSC told me that they had not contacted me because they had not heard back from the insurance company.

When two weeks had past without hearing back from BHC, I contacted them; when they still did not have an update, I called my case manager at Northwest Regional Council (NWRC). However, she was on vacation, and I just ended up leaving a message. I waited for the week and a half that my case manager was out of the office, and when she did not call back on the day she said she would be back in the office, I gave her another call, but ended up leaving her a second message. She did not call back.

By this time I had called the MSC a couple of times, and had learned that it was not my primary insurance, but Medicaid that was not approving the batteries for my chair, therefore, slowing the process. Since I had not gotten anywhere with BHC, and had yet to hear back from my case manager at NWRC, I gave her a third call, and left a third message; she did end up calling me back, but I missed her call, so she ended up leaving me a message. In the message, my case manager explained that she would be in the office from 1:00p.m. to 3:00p.m. the following day, and to give her a call back during that timeframe; I called her at 1:10p.m., and she was not there. I ended up leaving her a fourth message.

Around the same time, a couple of weeks ago, I received a call from the main office of BHC, the MSC that I am working through to get the new batteries; the lady who called me said she was concerned that I was still without new batteries, but informed me that Medicaid had still yet to approve the batteries, and that they -- BHC -- was doing all they could do to speed up the process.

Fast forward to two nights ago, my chair died; I was going along with my business, and my chair just shut off. I had my mom flip the switch on the back of my chair, off and back on again, just to see what would happen. Unfortunately, this did not do anything, so I had her plug my chair in to charge. Charging did not help either; when the charger was plugged into the chair, it displayed the fault light, and then shut off. This is not normal; when the chair is charging, a red light and green light turns on. Then as the chair begins charging, the red light turns off and the green light begins to blink. It blinks faster and faster until the light stops blinking and becomes solid green indicating that the batteries are fully charged.

Yesterday, I spent the day trying to find out what was happening with the entire battery process. I called my case manager from NWRC for a fifth time; when I could not reach her, I asked my mom to call someone else from NWRC. I called the lady from the main office of the MSC, and my mom said she would talk to someone at NWRC.

The lady from BHC informed me that she had contacted Medicaid every week since I had ordered my new batteries; she explained that is all they could do, and that I could call Medicaid myself and try to speed up the process. I asked if there was anything else that could be done. If it was legal, I would just pay out of pocket for my batteries. However, I can not do this; because I have Medicaid, it is against the law for any MSC to charge anyone with Medicaid. The lady at BHC told me that if someone who was not related to me or lived in my household sent the MSC a check for $469.90, then that would cover the remaining costs (that should be covered by Medicaid), then the batteries could be ordered and sent to the branch of the MSC near me. I questioned the cost as my understanding was that my primary insurance was covering eighty percent of the battery cost, leaving Medicaid with just twenty percent. I questioned the price as I thought $469.90 was quite high for being twenty percent of the total cost of batteries; I know medical supplies are expensive, but not that expensive. It turns out that my primary insurance company is not covering the eighty percent that they would have otherwise if I had met my deductible for the year (which I have not).

Since the lady at BHC suggested that I call Medicaid, I asked my mom to call Medicaid for me and ask them about the progress of my batteries. The guy at Medicaid pretty much told her that it was solely the MSC's job to contact Medicaid, therefore he could not help us! So, the MSC told me to talk to Medicaid, but Medicaid said to contact the MSC and have them pursue the process of ordering batteries as that is their job, not the consumer's.

My mom also called NWRC and asked to talk to someone; she explained what was going on, and that I had been trying to get in contact with my case manager. Even though the lady who my mom talked to was really nice, she informed my mom that she could not help us as she was not my assigned case manager, and that we would have to wait for my case manager.

Today, I received a call from a different lady from the head office of BHC, the MSC that I am working with to get my batteries. She informed me that the reason that Medicaid was not approving my new batteries was due to them not having any record of my power chair. It turns out that when I purchased my power chair, my primary insurance covered the cost of my entire chair, and the MSC that I purchased my power chair through, bypassed Medicaid altogether; this sped up the process then, but unfortunately is complicating this process now.

When I was 18, I was advised to sign up for Medicaid; if I waited until I could no longer be on my dad's insurance through his work, then I would probably not be able to get Medicaid in a timely fashion or at all. However, I am rethinking about how beneficial it really is to have Medicaid; primary insurance has covered all my power chairs; when I have needed other parts for my power chair and my primary insurance has not covered those costs, NWRC covered them (but they do not have money allocated to do that anymore). When I have gone to specialty doctors, Medicaid did not cover the copays either; the only thing Medicaid has covered is a few regular copays I have had to pay in the last five years (but not all of them). I am grateful for these costs being covered, but if Medicaid is not going to cover the majority of my medical costs not covered by my primary insurance, and the system has made it illegal for MSCs to charge me out of pocket, I do not see the point in having Medicaid -- even when I no longer have private insurance through my dad's work.  

I am stuck. I am without a way to get batteries; I cannot buy batteries because I have Medicaid, and Medicaid will not purchase me batteries because they do not have a record of me having a power chair. Without batteries, I am without my power chair; I am without my independence and freedom. I feel as if the system does not want people with disabilities to have access to an equal opportunity, and therefore not be successful in life. I need batteries to be independent, to go out into the community and be apart of society, but when I do not have access to batteries, I am trapped, and forced to be hidden away. When I am out of sight, I am also out of mind; no one has to see me anymore, and they do not have to wonder about me anymore. When I am hidden away, I am forgotten. No one assists the forgotten, and I will be trapped forever.

Equality Over Special Treatment: Why I Feed the Parking Meter in Downtown Bellingham

I park in Downtown Bellingham quite a bit. The accessible parking is terrible; accessible spots are far and few, and when an accessible spot does exist, it is not up to code. This has been justified by making all parking  -- accessible or not -- free to any person who has an accessible parking placard or license plates. However, this solution does not solve the problem of making parking more accessible; it actually perpetuates the problem.

The city no longer views accessible parking as an issue that needs updating; if people who need accessible parking are given the privilege of parking anywhere for free, then there is a belief that there is no longer a need to provide adequate accessible parking. This belief reflects the logic that if I give one group of people X, who do not have access to Y, and Y is accessible to all other people, but all other people are not privileged to X, and X is considered just as good of option as Y, then X is considered an adequate alternative to Y for the group of people who cannot access Y. However, we do not live in the 60's; the Jim Crow laws have been repealed, and the belief of "Separate but Equal" should have been put behind us. Never the less, this belief still holds strong as acceptable when regarding the disability community.

Instead of having the ability to park in adequate accessible parking and paying to park -- just like all other people utilizing downtown parking -- people with disabilities have been granted the ability to just park for free. I do not feel privileged; I feel patronized. I interpret my so called privilege of parking for free an attempt to keep me quiet - that I should not point out the inadequate parking downtown. And, in attempts to make me feel special, I instead feel like a second class citizen. I rather pay -- just like everyone else -- and have adequate accessible parking. I have paid, and will continue to pay, every time I park downtown (when there is a meter). I am a person, utilizing a spot, the law says to pay, so I am going to pay. I should not be exempt just because it is considered a solution to the problem.

Many people who are not disabled see this as a problem as well, but in that they should not have to pay either. This perpetuates resentment towards the disabled. Other people do not typically see both sides, so they do not understand that the accessible parking is not adequate, and the free parking for those with disabilities is not special treatment, but a copout. None the less, I do agree that if disabled people do not have to pay for parking, neither should anyone else.

The solution is simple; parking should be adequately accessible. This would be a win-win for all citizens and the city. Everyone could park downtown (and therefore pay), and the city would pull in a greater amount of revenue. For a town that claims to be so progressive, they certainly do a poor job of practicing true equality.

The Bathroom Beat: WWU's Humanities Bathrooms

The main bathrooms in the Humanities Building (HU) on Western Washington University's (WWU's) campus are not accessible to anyone who is unable to access stairs; these bathrooms are located in the basement, and the elevator cannot access the basement (just floors one, two and three). However, this is not in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as an accessible bathroom is located on the second floor.; according to the ADA, as long as there is one accessible bathroom (or stall) provided in the same building where a bathroom is -- or even multiple bathrooms are -- available to the public, then the building is compliant with respect to that standard.

Flight of stairs that leads down to the bathrooms in the Humanities Building.

Even though HU fulfills the ADA requirement of having an accessible bathroom, the bathroom in the basement is in violation of the ADA. This is not due to this bathroom being located down a flight of stairs, nor is it due to none of the stalls fulfilling any other requirements; it is, however, in violation of the ADA due to there not being any indication of where the nearest accessible bathroom is located. At the top of the stairs leading to the basement bathrooms, there is a sign informing people that there are bathrooms located at the bottom of the stairway; however, this leaves anyone who cannot access stairs to have to search for a different bathroom. Not only does this sign not indicate the location of the nearest accessible bathroom, it also does not provide the information in Braille and the characters are not raised. There are signs labeling the bathrooms at the entrance to each restroom, but they do not provide the necessary information either -- which would be ironic if they did as most people who need an accessible bathroom would not descend a flight of stairs to use the bathroom -- and the information that is provided in not up to code as well.

A yellow sign indicating where the bathroom are located hangs at the top of the stairs.

An up-close picture of the sign indicating the location of the bathrooms in the Humanities Building. It is an 8.5" x 11" yellow sign that reads, "RESTROOM DOWNSTAIRS," in black, capital letters, with a large, black, downward-pointing arrow underneath the words. 

When a bathroom is not accessible, the ADA requires that there is an indicator of where the nearest accessible bathroom is located. WWU thought to put a sign at the top of the stairway as a courtesy to students, but this sign is only a courtesy to students who can access the stairs. WWU prides itself on being inclusive and welcoming, but simple acts of courtesy -- or lack thereof -- speak loudly when it comes to the true character of a person or entity. A sign is small, it is simple, but when such a thing is lacking, so is the inclusive nature and welcoming atmosphere.