Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
What's wrong with this picture? Medicare's bill for artificial feet rose nearly 60 percent in recent years, although foot and leg amputations due to diabetes continued a dramatic decline.
Medicare paid $94 million for artificial feet in 2010, according to research conducted for The Associated Press. That was nearly $35 million more than in 2005, even though in 2010, Medicare covered about 1,900 fewer such prostheses.
Artificial feet represent a tiny slice of the $550 billion program that covers health care for 49 million older and disabled people. But the spending spike highlights basic questions about affordability, technology and appropriate care that confront Medicare as lawmakers look for a way out of its broader financial troubles.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...1wYQ0g?docId=f927590d52264f65ac0f1de37f87f4b0
Medicare paid $94 million for artificial feet in 2010, according to research conducted for The Associated Press. That was nearly $35 million more than in 2005, even though in 2010, Medicare covered about 1,900 fewer such prostheses.
Artificial feet represent a tiny slice of the $550 billion program that covers health care for 49 million older and disabled people. But the spending spike highlights basic questions about affordability, technology and appropriate care that confront Medicare as lawmakers look for a way out of its broader financial troubles.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...1wYQ0g?docId=f927590d52264f65ac0f1de37f87f4b0