New York’s One-Limb-per-Lifetime Restriction Attacked With Collaborative Effort

It’s not often that a focused, intensive effort to change a bad public policy results in progress in as quickly as three months, but that is exactly what happened in New York State. In short, New York’s notorious restriction-the so-called one-limb-per-lifetime cap that limited beneficiaries to one prosthesis per amputated limb, per lifetime-in its benchmark health benefits plan sold in the private insurance market was recently amended to include coverage for prosthetic repairs and replacements. While additional work must be done to solidify this development, the attention the issue garnered and the pace at which New York chose to modify the policy is stunning.