Medicare and DME

Medicare and DME guidelines are something you need to learn if you want to have your home health care equipment covered by your insurance.

While Medicare is helping many people afford the high cost of health equipment and other medical needs, when it comes to durable medical equipment, they do not cover all of the equipment you might require. In order to make sure that your home health care equipment is covered, it helps to know some of the rules Medicare and DME follow.

The "Rules" of Medicare

The durable medical equipment you might need is essential to helping you manage a medical condition in the short term or long term. But the equipment you use needs to be directly related to the condition and it needs to be essential for managing the condition. Getting the equipment prescribed by a doctor is the best way to encourage Medicare to pay for the item. Also, your doctor may be asked to prove the necessity of the item if its function is still unclear.

Durable medical equipment items that are not able to be reused are generally not covered by Medicare. For example, things like surgical leggings can not be used again for another condition, so they are not covered. It can help to talk to a Medicare representative directly in order to find out more about what is covered and what is not. The Medicare website is helpful in this respect, giving a full list of what's covered and what's not. Some exceptions can be made for certain durable medical equipment items, but it can be a lengthy process to get reimbursed.