Employer buys robotic feeder for Illinois man after insurance fight

PALATINE, Unwell. — After a battle along with his insurance coverage firm, a suburban man’s employer has bought the robotic arm that helps feed him independently.

Earlier this 12 months, Kevin Sullivan, 31, shared his story with WGN Information over wanting to maintain utilizing the Obi, which is a robotic feeding gadget. Sullivan lives with a situation known as arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC) that impacts his muscle tissue.

Rising up, Sullivan relied on his mother and father to assist look after him. Now, house aides, whom he largely has to pay out of pocket for, assist with many duties

He just lately got here throughout the Obi on-line and contacted the corporate for a demo.

“I’ve by no means fed myself earlier than so simply having that means to do it even for an hour,” Sullivan instructed WGN Information. “That day was fairly unimaginable.”

On the web site, it lists Sullivan’s particular medical situation as a listed candidate for the $10,000 gadget. Round 10,000 Obi customers have been reimbursed by means of non-public insurance coverage.

So, Sullivan submitted a letter of medical necessity signed by his physician and bodily therapist to Blue Cross Blue Defend of Florida in March.

His letter was denied instantly from an workplace in South Carolina. 

Within the letter, the Obi was thought-about a “non-standard or deluxe, and isn’t a lined profit.”

After seeing the story, Sullivan’s supervisor, Olga Rissin, on the delivery firm DAT wished to assist. She received the corporate to buy the $9,700 gadget for Sullivan and it’s anticipated to reach inside two weeks.

“He’s an absolute rock star nothing in need of rock star. He’s dealing with a really advanced territory and doing that amazingly effectively,” Rissin mentioned.

For his first meal with the gadget, he honored his late grandmother who just lately handed.

“I requested my mother to make my grandmas’ French toast recipe she used to make for me after I was a child after I’d be house sick from faculty. She got here by means of for me on that it was scrumptious the most effective meals I’ve ever had,” he mentioned.

Sullivan filed a 3rd attraction with Blue Cross Blue Defend of Florida and was denied.

“That’s one thing as a rustic ,as a society we have to discover a repair for. We will’t preserve telling folks with disabilities to dwell as independently as potential after which deny them the instruments to take action,” he mentioned.