Medicare therapy cap should be eliminated

To the editor,

The "Medicare therapy cap" is an arbitrary limit that has been placed on rehabilitation services covered by Medicare in all outpatient rehabilitation settings. This cap applies to physical therapy, speech language pathology and occupational therapy services. This cap will directly affect you by limiting the amount of therapy you can receive in one year to $1,840 for physical therapy and speech language pathology combined, and a separate $1,840 cap for occupational therapy.

If you exceed this cap the therapy cost responsibility is yours. This becomes a big issue when therapy is needed for a long period of time (perhaps following a stroke or a rotator cuff tear) or if multiple episodes of therapy are needed (often with chronic low back pain).

Please contact our representatives in Congress, Sen. Max Baucus, Sen. Jon Tester and Congressman Denny Rehberg and ask them to support The Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act (H.R. 43 / S. 46), which would repeal the arbitrary therapy cap.

You can download a letter to send to our three representatives by logging on to the SPORT Center Web site at, www.whitefishsportcenter.com and go to the news section.

Scott Ruta, PT

SPORT Center

Whitefish