Senate committee hears bill to require private insurers to cover secondary prosthetics, orthotics

The Senate Insurance and Labor Committee held a hearing on House Bill 87, introduced by Representative David Clark, to require private health insurers to cover orthotic and prosthetic devices used to support basic activities such as bathing, toileting, exercising and walking.

Representative David Clark said the bill “will make life better for Georgians with limb loss or limb differences” and described constituent cases, including a six‑year‑old named Elliot, whose family raised the need for coverage of a running prosthesis and an everyday prosthesis.

Clark said the change is not intended to create a new state program but to require private insurers to provide coverage when a device is “medically necessary” and prescribed in line with the bill’s definitions. He said insurers and advocates negotiated language and that some items (a state plan and Medicaid coverage) were carved out in the…