I don't know what to tell her... Help!  

Oh poor lady.... how old is she? I don't wat to be rude but I think in cases where there's no one to take care of her its better that she be sent to a home that people could better take care of her. Well it is pretty obvious that she might someday meet the accidents that you are predicting to happen. And that would be difficult for her to help herslef wihtout any assistance from anyone.

If i were you,i would go to yahoo groups. Type in your county and then see what groups pop up. MOST county's have a freecycle group.wich everyone in the community that is a memeber will give there stuff away rather then throw it away. and possibly someone who is no longer using one is giving one away.or if you post wated:wheelchair.mabey someone has one just stored in the basement not using and they see your wanted post:).. you just might get lucky. you never know...

Goodluck with this. i do feel sorry for this lady:(

man that is a stinky situation
not surprising though we are talking about medicare LOL
All you can do is keep urging her to call both medicare and the wheelchair company
My mom has had similar problems with medicare and i know they can be tough but your friend will just have to stay on them.

minus me please, thanks

To help her, is there a way you could speak to both the companies involved and pose them the question in anonymity without giving your friends name. If you get some reply you would be able to solve the problem for her.

I would try a little bit more to try to convince her to write the two companies. She really has nothing to lose since they are billing her anyway. She needs to explain to them about it and see if she can get another one. She really doesn't have any evidence of it. I do agree. I know there are some places that will let her get one even if medicare doesn't cover the charges. I think I seen something like that on the television. Sorry I could not be of more help.

If she is afraid to do it then she can use a computer chair which is easier to manuever. When I had a sprain, we did not buy a wheel chair and I just used my computer chair. I really enjoyed using it to bring me from this point to that point.

Okay here is the thing. They are defrauding Medicare. She will not get into trouble, she isn't the one billing Medicare for something that was paid off 10years ago! It does not matter that she no longer has the contract the medical supply place will have to cough it up. Explain to her that Medicare takes a dim view of medical supply places over charging for appliances and especially an appliance that was paid in full years ago. Medicare will not look to her for this thievery they will look to the company that is defrauding them. She needs to actually get another w/c from a different supply place and send a note to Medicare about the problem. If they are doing this to her they are probably doing it to others. Also the medical supply company owes her any monies that she paid out over the last 10years. In addition to what they owe Medicare.
Even though this isn't your problem maybe you could call the w/c company and speak to them, if you can't get satisfaction from them call the fraud line at Medicare.
This type of behavior from a medical supply company is unacceptable and not to be tolerated! Geriatrics have enough trouble making ends meet on a fixed income with out the very companies that is supposed to provide services robbing them blind! Hopefully they are not crooks just sloppy bookkeepers (okay, i don't believe that) and will make things right once it is brought to their attention.
Which they may actually give her a new w/c to replace the old one just to keep Medicare out of it, because once Medicare gets into it they are going to have all kinds of fines to pay!

I hope this link helps...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...

If you have the time maybe you could do some calling around and find out. You wouldn't have to give any names or personal info. Hopefully she can get the chair she needs.

you are to be commened,for trying to help her out. that lady should just refuse to pay those bills, she is getting for something she no longer has.medicare should be made aware of the situation.