Does Medicare Cover a Wheelchair? What Families Should Know

Often, yes. Medicare Part B helps pay for a manual wheelchair, a power wheelchair, or a scooter when a doctor orders it because the person can't get around their own home safely with a cane or walker. If your loved one uses a walker and is struggling with it, a wheelchair is worth asking their doctor about.

When a walker stops being enough

Medicare covers a wheelchair as medical equipment for use in the home. The question it asks is whether the person can move around inside the house well enough to do everyday things, like getting to the bathroom, the kitchen, or their bed. If a walker still gets them there safely, Medicare will usually say the walker is enough. If they are tiring out, stopping to rest, or falling, the answer can change.

Signs it is time to raise it with the doctor:

• They can't walk from one room to the next without stopping.
• They have fallen, or nearly fallen, while using the walker.
• They skip meals or bathroom trips because getting there is too hard.

What does the family pay?

After the yearly Part B deductible, Medicare pays 80 percent of its approved amount and the person pays 20 percent. A supplemental (Medigap) plan often covers some or all of that 20 percent. A Medicare Advantage plan covers wheelchairs too, but may require you to use its own suppliers and get approval first, so call the plan before ordering.

Rent or own: which one is it?

Original Medicare rents many wheelchairs rather than buying them outright (canes and walkers are usually bought). For a standard wheelchair, the supplier bills Medicare month by month, and after 13 months of continuous rental the chair belongs to the person. Power wheelchairs can be rented or bought, depending on the chair.

Knowing whether yours is rented or owned matters for two reasons. A rented chair comes with repairs and servicing from the supplier. And if you are partway through a rental, the supplier can tell you how many months are left before the chair is yours.

Does it change if they go on hospice?

It does. Once someone chooses hospice, the hospice team provides the equipment related to the illness they are on hospice for, and it belongs to hospice rather than to the family. A chair that Medicare was renting usually stops counting toward ownership once hospice provides one. If a wheelchair is needed and hospice is also on the table, ask the doctor and the hospice team how the chair would come, since the answer decides who picks it and whose it is. Our hospice or palliative care comparison explains what hospice covers.

How do you get one?

Start with the doctor. For a power wheelchair or scooter, Medicare requires an in-person visit where the doctor checks how the person moves around, followed by a written order. For a manual chair, a written order from the doctor is the first step. The doctor's office or the hospital can usually point you to a Medicare-enrolled supplier nearby.