ReWalk Exoskeleton Must be Covered by Insurer, Says Medical Review Organization

Our fucking failures of stroke associations should be following up with all the other exoskeletons out there and making sure they are covered. That is a joke since it will NEVER occur.
These 67 exoskeleton posts. These 354 walking posts.
Your doctor can correlate the intersection of these posts, I'm not being paid for this, they are.

ReWalk Exoskeleton Must be Covered by Insurer, Says Medical Review Organization

This week, ReWalk Robotics Ltd., a company that designs exoskeletons for use by paraplegics, announced that an independent medical review organization ruled that a U.S. health insurance provider is responsible for reimbursing a patient for a ReWalk Personal exoskeleton system.
The news comes after the health insurance provider initially denied the patient coverage.
While official details are scant from ReWalk, the company did mention that the beneficiary is a surgeon, who, after suffering a spinal cord injury, makes use of a wheelchair 11 hrs per day.
“The ruling by the independent medical organization marks an important moment for exoskeletons being accepted as protocol technology for those with spinal cord injury,” said ReWalk’s CEO Larry Jasinksi. “Health benefit providers have historically been hesitant to acknowledge the clinical benefits in their case assessments. This ruling, and subsequent coverage and reimbursement will help ReWalk in our efforts to facilitate greater patient access to the device.”
According to Motherboard, the ReWalk costs $69,500. The device was approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2014. At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that around 200,000 people suffered from spinal cord injury in the U.S.
The ReWalk isn’t the only exoskeleton recently receiving media attention. The company SuitX recently unveiled their model for the Phoenix, which costs around $40,000. The research behind the device was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
However, ReWalk has stated that its model is the only exoskeleton currently approved for market by the FDA. Under the approval, it can be used in rehabilitation and personal settings.
According to ReWalk, the Personal model is capable of walking speeds up to 1.6 mph, helps improve bowel and bladder function, and decreases body fat and pain, among other things.
In December 2015, the U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs set a national policy, and agreed to pay for ReWalk exoskeletons for eligible veterans with spinal cord injuries.