Renting medical equipment with Manulife group benefits in Calgary

Questions to ask Manulife before you rent

Call with your benefits card in hand and the equipment named as precisely as you can: “power lift chair” rather than “a chair”, “battery-powered patient lift” rather than “something to help with transfers”. Write the answers down as you go. Swap in your own equipment where these examples name one:

• “Is renting a power lift chair an eligible expense under my plan, or only buying one?”
• “Is there a maximum for medical equipment, and does it apply per item, per year or per lifetime?”
• “Besides the diagnosis, what does the physician’s written recommendation need to include?”
• “Should I send a cost estimate first, and roughly how long does a reply take?”
• “Do you need a statement from a provincial program before you consider the claim?”
• “Do I submit each month’s rental separately, or everything once the rental ends?”
• “Is there a limit on how many months of rental you will consider?”

The physician’s written recommendation

Manulife’s group claim form asks for a written recommendation from the prescribing physician, and it asks for the diagnosis to be included. A note that simply reads “hospital bed” leaves out the part that links the equipment to a medical need.

Needs change during a long rental. Someone who starts with a lift chair may later need a patient lift, or a standard bed may be swapped for a bariatric one. When the equipment changes, ask the physician for a recommendation covering the new item, so every receipt on file matches a letter.

Where Alberta’s provincial programs fit

The same Manulife form asks for a provincial plan statement where one applies. In Alberta, the program that most often matters for home equipment is Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL). AADL helps with long-term, chronic and palliative needs after an assessment, but it does not reimburse short-term rentals, and it excludes use before or after surgery.

For a few months of recovery after an operation, then, AADL isn’t part of the picture. For a long-term need, ask Manulife whether it expects an AADL application first, and how it treats a rental that bridges the wait for AADL equipment.

When both spouses have benefits

If your spouse also has a benefits plan through work, two insurers may each be able to consider the same rental. Before claiming anything, ask both how they coordinate: which plan should receive the claim first, and what the second one needs to see afterwards.

Keep your receipts usable for both. Manulife asks members to keep receipts for 12 months after submitting a claim, and a well-organized copy means a second claim isn’t held up hunting for paper.

Keeping a long rental claimable

Palliative care at home or a slow recovery can keep a bed or lift in the house for many months. The paperwork builds up quietly: a receipt each month, perhaps an updated physician’s letter, an estimate and replies from Manulife. A simple system from the first month saves a difficult search in the sixth.

• One folder, paper or digital, with receipts in date order
• A running list of each month claimed and what was reimbursed, so a gap stands out
• The collection date, for the returned-equipment question on the form
• Everything kept for at least 12 months after its claim, as Manulife asks

What we provide, and what Manulife decides

We issue an itemized receipt every month showing the equipment and the rental period, and a written cost estimate before delivery when you need one for Manulife. We can also help you work out what a request from Manulife is asking for. We don’t submit claims to Manulife; you do that through the app or the plan member site.

Coverage differs between employers’ plans, and even an encouraging answer on the phone is subject to how the claim is assessed. The decision on the claim is Manulife’s.