H.R. 1703 — the Choices for Increased Mobility Act— has passed the Senate and is, at press time, awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature.
The bill gives Medicare beneficiaries a more accessible path to upgrade their ultralightweight wheelchair frames to carbon fiber or titanium at their own expense. If the bill becomes law, Medicare beneficiaries will be able to pay only the cost of the upgrade, rather than paying the cost of the entire wheelchair and waiting for partial reimbursement, which is currently Medicare’s policy.
H.R. 1703 passed the U.S. House of Representatives on July 20. The Senate then passed the bill, without amendments, by voice vote on Sept. 30.
The bill was introduced on Feb. 27, 2025, by Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.). It was one of the bills addressed during a Jan. 8 Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee meeting, where Joyce referred to it as “common-sense legislation.”
Because wheelchair riders would pay for upgrades out of pocket, the bill would not increase Medicare spending.
“There is one key word in this legislation, and that is ‘choice,” Joyce said back in January. “This bill allows Medicare patients the opportunity to decide whether a titanium or a carbon fiber wheelchair is the right choice for them. And if it is, then patients with Medicare B have the ability to pay out of pocket for wheelchair upgrades if they so choose.
“That is previously what Medicare patients had the capabilities of having, to have a lightweight wheelchair. And this legislation once again will provide that for the patients. I urge all of my colleagues to support this common sense, zero-cost measure, which passed unanimously out of this committee last Congress, so that it may be signed into law.”
In an Oct. 1 bulletin, the National Coalition for Assistive & Rehab Technology (NCART) said, “This is an issue we have lobbied and advocated for many years. This was a priority for CRT [Complex Rehab Technology] manufacturers, suppliers, AAHomecare [American Association for Homecare], state associations, iNRRTS [International Registry of Rehabilitation Technology Suppliers], U.S. Rehab, RESNA [Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America], Clinician Task Force, consumer groups, and other stakeholders.”
NCART also congratulated “John Goetz and Mickae Lee of Permobil, Jay Witter of AAHomecare, Seth Johnson from Pride [Mobility], and Michael Hughes from Motion Composites. Their work and recognition of this issue as a problem that needed a solution is what started this process.”
In addition to serving as Permobil’s senior manager of government affairs, Lee is the current president of NCART.
