Does Medicare Cover Shoes for Diabetics?

Proper footcare is essential for people with diabetes. In many cases, proper foot care means wearing special shoes for diabetics.

These shoes are often covered by Medicare, which will cover the cost of one pair of diabetic shoes per customer each year.

However, this option expires at the end of the calendar year, so now is the time to act. But before we discuss Medicare’s criteria for diabetic footwear coverage, let’s address why these shoes are necessary in the first place.

If you put 100 senior citizens in the same room and asked them if they hoped to spend the rest of their lives living at home, all but a handful of them would say “Yes.”

Most of us want to age in place, but that’s often easier said than done. That’s where home modifications such as stair lifts and home elevators can help, allowing you to access your entire home at a time when mobility issues might have made taking the stairs impossible.

It’s late at night. You get up to get a glass of water and take a nasty tumble on the way to the kitchen. There’s no one else at home, yet you aren’t alone.

There’s a little gadget you wear around your wrist that not only detected your fall, it alerted emergency responders that you needed help.

Welcome to the world of medical alert systems.

Welcome to Philadelphia. There’s plenty to see and do here, and as we wrote earlier this year, it’s a city that can be fairly accommodating to people who use wheelchairs.

But maybe you’re traveling without a wheelchair. Perhaps you’re here on business and only need a chair for a few days. If you need to rent a wheelchair in Philadelphia, here are a few things to consider.

Proper foot care is important for everyone, but it's especially important for people with diabetes, as anyone who has ever shopped for shoes for diabetics can tell you.

About a quarter of all diabetes-related hospital visits stem from foot issues, and people with diabetes are at high risk for foot ulcers, or – in more extreme cases – having a toe or foot amputated.

But while that sounds scary, it doesn't mean things are hopeless for people with diabetes.  There are some things you can do – and some things you should avoid – to keep your feet healthy.