Christie Rogero of Voorhees and Connie Hanafy of Sewell enjoy a swim clinic hosted by Challenged Athletes Foundation. Photo Credit- KELLY WORRELL
The Amputee Coalition continues to champion the Triple A Study Act. We learned in December that the Government Accountability Office has initiated a study. The hope is that it will lead to new legislation being introduced this year and eventually will close gaps in care for people with limb loss and limb difference.
Jane Havsy of the Morristown (New Jersey) Daily Record wrote about the difficulty some members of the community encounter when they want to return to an active lifestyle and what they are doing to overcome it.
Connie Hanafy received a prosthesis that helped her walk again. However, her insurance wouldn’t cover devices to help her run, swim, or play soccer with her children.
“Having a limb difference, I don’t want to deal with it,” she says. “I want to do what I want to do without having a $50,000 prosthetic leg and paying out of pocket for it because it’s deemed not medically necessary. It is necessary.”
Christie Rogero became a handcycling enthusiast after having her leg amputated. She has applied for a grant to buy her own handcycle, which is expensive.
“Now that I’ve found something I’m good at and I enjoy, I want to be able to do it much more often,” she says. “If I get this grant, I’ll be able to get the bike and keep it at home. It’s a freedom I didn’t know I was missing until I got on the bike and went flying down the road.”
Hanafy and Rogero are among thousands of people using or hoping to use grant money to help them afford prostheses that often are priced out of range and uncovered by insurance.