Beth Smith at a park near her home in Albany, Calif. Smith is part of a lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and a California state agency alleging discrimination against disabled people.The aging chair has functioned as an extension of her body for roughly a decade, ferrying the 62-year-old to the transit station near her Albany, Calif., home; to the office where she works; and to medical appointments and other errands.
must cover. If Smith wins in court, it could affect not only Kaiser members but also other wheelchair users with private insurance across the state.The Justice Department is suing Uber over wait-time fees charged to disabled passengers who needed extra time to board vehicles. Cohen said that health insurers in turn have sought to curb abuse after a rash of billing scams involving medical equipment in recent decades.
Palanker said the private insurance market “wasn’t designed to meet the needs of disabled people, because disabled people were not allowed” for many years. She said that before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, which barred health insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions, many disabled people would have found it difficult to get private coverage at all.
“All of Kaiser Permanente’s health care plan options, including those challenged in the lawsuit, provide coverage as required by law,” it stated.