New Iowa policy speeds up wheelchair repairs

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — Previously, Iowans would sometimes have to meet with a doctor and get a prescription to get their wheelchair fixed. Now the middle man can be cut out altogether.

“People with disabilities face a lot of barriers in the state of Iowa, and there’s a great deal of upgrading that needs to happen,” Alex Watters with the Sioux City city council said.

The first step to address that issue was two bills in the 2024 legislative session that were introduced to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.

“What this bill sought to do is just streamline that process and make sure that people with disabilities, if they require the use of a mobility device, don’t have to wait quite as long to get the different prescriptions and all of those necessary procedures in order to get the device that they need to really just perform their day-to-day functions and life,” Watters said.

Before the change, disabled Iowans on Medicaid had to jump through hoops to get their wheelchairs fixed.

“If I went to a manufacturer, they might require me to have a doctor’s prescription say, well, no, you in fact need a wheelchair,” Watters said. “And so then it’s like, well, then I have to go through them. I have to go through insurance. I have to get this prior authorization and/or how long will it take me to go see a medical professional at that level to write me a prescription? And all that time, I’m without the use of my mobility device.”

This policy change addresses just one issue people encounter when trying to get their equipment fixed.

“Ever since the state went to a privatized form of Medicaid, a lot of these providers are deciding that, look, it’s not worth it,” Watters said. “We can’t wait the long time that we have to wait in order to be reimbursed for Medicaid in some of these different programs, whether it’s a recliner, a scooter or what have you. It’s not a luxury I have. I need to utilize Medicaid and my other insurances in order to pay for this. So I have to utilize some of those other providers which are sadly out of town.”

Howver, Watters says he’s still happy to see positive change for disabled Iowans.

“Bills like this give me hope that the state legislature can pick up meaningful policies, look at legislation that actually impacts the people in Iowa, people that have barriers already before them, such as myself,” he said. “We need to do everything that we can to try to assist them through the system and make sure that they don’t have these different barriers, these hoops that people have to jump through.”

Watters said he hopes to see more bills and talk about improving disabled Iowans’ lives in the next legislative session.

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