I'm a wheelchair user living in Canton Bern and have a bit of a niche question, but thought it was worth a shot!
I recently heard that it's possible to get sports mobility equipment funded through health insurance, if there is a clear health benefit (in my case it would be slowing muscle deterioration). I've tried Googling (in German) and not found any useful information. Does anyone know how to go about doing this?
My current everyday wheelchair was purchased by IV, but they don't fund sports chairs. I assumed there was no funding for sports chairs and they are not cheap! A contribution from health insurance would be very helpful. However, I don't want to waste money and time going to the doctor, if this isn't really a thing. I live in a small village and found with the IV application process that my GP, while keen to help, does not know much about what equipment is available and how to get it, so I think I would need to go armed with information to get anywhere with this.
I have tried asking my insurance directly but keep getting referred to a different person each time and told they will look into it and get back to me. So far no actual answer!
I haven't, I will try that, thanks! My disability is not the result of a spinal cord injury so I didn't think of this, but maybe they can advise anyway.
They don't seem to know though. As I said, when I needed a new everyday wheelchair my doctor did not know the process. Small village GP; I like them and do not want to change doctors, but this seems to be an area they are not knowledgeable in.
They don't seem to know what is an isn't covered in general. Twice they have given me treatments (for things not related to my disability) - once a vaccination and once a medication - that they thought would be covered by health insurance and then weren't. In both cases the doctor's practice footed the bill, don't think they'd do that for a wheelchair (my current chair cost IV CHF 14,000!).