Mason City, IA- It's an experience no one wants to go through.
Imagine losing a limb then finding out your insurance company is covering only a fraction of the cost for a prosthetic.
Earlier this week the Iowa House followed the state Senate in passing a bill requiring insurance companies to pay the full cost of replacement limbs.
Al Jeniges of Garner, IA never thought about whether his insurance covered prosthetic limbs. That is until six years ago arterial sclerosis in his legs left doctors with tough choice.
"Then they had to make a decision to cut them off, and I basically came out of all the drugs and looked at the wife and said, 'now what am I gonna do?" he said.
After a battle with his insurance company al met with prosthetic specialist Tom Leisure.
"He comes in and put legs on me and grabbed my shirt and pulled me up, and said, ‘how's that?’ I said pretty damn good, It was pretty emotional for me and my family and then I started walking."
Al is covered by Medicare. He says they've done a good job covering the cost of prosthetics, but for some amputees the process is much harder.
Many smaller insurance companies cap the amount of payments for prosthetics at just 25 hundred dollars. Leisure says even a basic leg can cost as much as $13,000, and some insurance companies will only cover one limb for a patient’s lifetime.
"It's absurd, it's like saying well you only get to wear the same pair of shoes for the rest of your life," Leisure said.
He says in many cases he does as much as possible by upgrading his patient’s prosthetics, but it doesn't always match their individual needs.
"And really what it should be based upon is the patient's functional need and that is as their functional need goes up, the price will go up."
Even though he's missing two legs, Al says he doesn't miss a step.
"Without prosthetics I'd go nuts, cause I'm not sittin' in a wheelchair, that ain't gonna happen."
Now hopefully thanks to lawmakers other people with catastrophic injuries will get better coverage. The only thing standing in the way of this bill is the governor's signature.
