Financial Programs to Help Purchase Used Medical Equipment
Part 4, Chapter 13: Specialized Situations: Programs for Children and Adults with Disabilities and Special Health Care Needs Page 12
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Alternate Sources of Funding
There are also programs designed to help families purchase used, inexpensive, medical equipment that may not be covered by Medicaid or by private health insurance policies. For example, many of the Tech Act programs established under the 1988 federal Technology-Related Assistance for Individuals with Disabilities Act offer used durable medical equipment. Such equipment may include wheelchairs, specially equipped vans, lifts, ramps, computers with specialized equipment, TTYs (teletype writers), augmentative communications devices, walkers, crutches, and speech synthesizers.
There are Tech Act programs in each state, although they may operate under different names. In New Jersey, the Tech Act program is known as TARP (Technology Assistive Resource Program). In Indiana, the program is called ATTAIN (Accessing Technology Through Awareness In Indiana), while in Oregon, the program is referred to as TALN (Technology Access For Life Needs).
RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America) serves as the technical consultant for Tech Act programs throughout the country. RESNA can provide a list of telephone numbers for the various state programs, and may also be able to offer information on the services available through each program (See Appendix B).
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