Iowa Medicaid makes it easier for disabled neighbors to repair wheelchairs

Earlier this year, Iowa State Rep. Josh Turek introduced a bill aiming to make it earliest for Iowa Medicaid members to repair their wheelchairs more quickly with fewer barriers.

• 20-year-old Owen Hansen is paralyzed from the shoulders down. Sometimes it takes weeks to get his chair repaired, which takes its toll on his health.
• "It's kind of depressing and that wears on your mental state," said Hansen of not being able to get out of house when his chair is broken.
• "We're removing a huge unnecessary burden and barrier for disabled individuals. And it's just the right thing to do," said Turek.
• SEE MORE | WHEELCHAIR REPAIR: Efficiency concerns about Iowa's privatized Medicaid system
  

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

You may have heard the phrase “Right to Repair” related to farm equipment, but it's also a concern for Iowa neighbors who use wheelchairs. I'm your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel in Council Bluffs.

I'm here to speak with Owen Hansen, a young man who was disabled in an accident about 3 years ago. We talked about recent changes to Iowa Medicaid regulations.

We first met Owen a little more than three years ago shortly after he was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident.

He learned how to live with a wheelchair, but also came to understand that fixing it wasn't easy.

Caregiver and friend, Missy Murphy says waiting for repairs added health problems for Owen.

"And he got a pressure sore because the seat cushion was wrong, just because of all this runaround,” said Murphy. “It really has affected his life, almost hospitalized him because you

"It's kind of depressing and that wears on your mental state," said Hansen.

For years, Medicaid recipients in Iowa like Owen had to make a face-to-face doctor's visit, get a prescription and a pre-authorization from the private health insurance companies that administer Medicaid every time they needed a repair.

"It's just like constant setbacks all because of this one flaw in the system,” said Hansen “Just because we have to go through that long process. That one process of getting simple things fixed.”

Earlier this year, Rep. Josh Turek, who also uses a wheelchair, wrote a bill streamlining the repair process for Medicaid members. It passed the House unanimously, but the Senate never voted on it.

"You can imagine, myself without my wheelchair, what am I doing?,” said Turek. “I don't even have freedom of mobility. I'm just holed up in my house."

Turek's bill died but then, this month Medicaid stepped in and made the change at the administrative level. No longer requiring prescriptions for wheelchair repair. Turek praised the move.

"This will take weeks or months off of that process for repair,” said Turek. “We're removing a huge unnecessary burden and barrier for disabled individuals. And it's just the right thing to do."

Now, Owen says it will be easier to pursue his interest in drone aviation when he starts in-person classes at Iowa Western in the fall with fewer worries about missing class due to a broken wheelchair.