Kaitlyn Samuels (photo: The Atlantic)
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.
“TRICARE made it clear that it would pay for Kaitlyn’s physical therapy if it was the type that wasn’t working on Kaitlynn—traditional physical therapy—but wouldn’t pay for the type of physical therapy that did work on Kaitlyn,” wrote Andrew Cohen at The Atlantic.
Hippotherapy is covered by Medicaid.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
To Learn More:
The Pentagon Says No to Disabled Daughter of Navy Captain (by Andrew Cohen, The Atlantic)
A Navy Captain's Increasingly Absurd Fight Against Military Insurer to Pay For Disabled Daughter's Physical Therapy (by Eric Nicholson, Dallas Observer)
Disabled Girl's Treatment Coverage Depends on Definition of "Hippotherapy" (by Leslie Minora, Dallas Observer)
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