Pentagon Refuses to Pay for Horse-Riding Therapy for Disabled Daughter of Navy Officer
Pentagon Refuses to Pay for Horse-Riding Therapy for Disabled Daughter of Navy Officer
The U.S. military’s health insurance program is willing to pay for a young girl’s physical therapy, but only the kind that doesn’t work, and won’t cover the kind that does work and could save her life.
Kaitlyn Samuels, 15, was born with a rare neurological disorder similar to cerebral palsy that, without effective physical therapy, will eventually result in her own body crushing her internal organs, resulting in death.
Her father, Mark Samuels, a U.S. Navy officer, was able to get Kaitlyn medical treatment through the Department of Defense’s healthcare program, TRICARE. But her doctors found that traditional forms of physical therapy didn’t work for Kaitlyn, leaving them to try an alternative: horseback riding.
Spending twice a week atop a horse proved effective for Kaitlyn, as the riding helped stretch her muscles and straighten her spine.
For a while, TRICARE covered the horseback riding therapy, which is dubbed “hippotherapy.” But, then, the military decided hippotherapy was unproven and refused to pay for the sessions. Even worse, TRICARE demanded the Samuels pay the government back for the sessions it had covered.
http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/pentagon-refuses-to-pay-for-horse-riding-therapy-for-disabled-daughter-of-navy-officer-121207?news=846415