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Subcommittee approves bill to require insurance coverage for activity-specific prosthetics
Summary
House Bill 406 would require insurers to cover activity-specific prosthetics and orthotic devices; sponsor said TennCare and Medicare are not impacted. The subcommittee voted to advance the bill to the full Insurance Committee.
The Insurance Subcommittee voted Wednesday to advance House Bill 406, which would require private insurers to cover activity-specific prosthetic and orthotic devices that insurers have sometimes deemed not medically necessary.
Chairman Martin, sponsor of House Bill 406, said the bill seeks to make movement and physical activity accessible to Tennesseans living with limb loss or limb differences. “Tennessee's living with limb loss and limb differences are unable to afford or access life changing prosthetics for physical activity and exercise due to lack of insurance coverages at times, not being not medically necessary at times, or high out of pocket cost,” he said.
Martin told the committee that TennCare and Medicare are not affected by the bill, and that TennCare does not deny secondary devices currently. The sponsor said the bill is intended to allow children and adults to obtain activity-specific devices — for example, running-specific prosthetics rather than a single walking device — to avoid biomechanical injuries that can result when patients use a single device for multiple activities.
Committee members raised no questions and the measure passed on a 5-0 vote; the bill was sent to the full Insurance Committee for further consideration.
