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When you can’t afford medical equipment: wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen and hospital beds, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and where to borrow
For anyone who needs a wheelchair, a walker, oxygen, a hospital bed or other equipment at home and cannot pay for it, and the people beside them. This page cannot order equipment, and it does not know what Medicare, your state, your plan or a supplier will decide. It passes on, by name and date, what the federal Medicare and Medicaid websites, the federal rule on Medicaid home health services, Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Administration for Community Living and the Assistive Technology Act say: what Medicare counts as equipment and who has to order it, the one question to ask a supplier before you take anything home, how oxygen rental works, what a state Medicaid program may not refuse outright, and the program in every state that lends and reuses devices. It states no price and names no supplier or brand.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Before anything else
- Trouble breathing is an emergency, not a supply question. Call 911. This line is ours.
- Running low on oxygen? Medicare.gov says to contact your supplier immediately and ask them to deliver more.
- The order comes first. Medicare.gov says Part B covers medically necessary equipment if your doctor or other health care provider orders it for use in your home.
- Ask the supplier before you take it. Medicare.gov says it is important to ask if they participate in Medicare or will accept assignment of your claims. If they will not, it says, you may be charged more.
- Medicaid: a federal rule says states are prohibited from having absolute exclusions of coverage on medical equipment, and must tell you of the right to a fair hearing when they deny a request.
- Someone called to offer you free equipment? Medicare.gov says Medicare will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home.
- Doing without because of money says nothing bad about you. If the weight turns into thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 at any hour.
- This page saves nothing. There is nowhere on it to type, and it loads no analytics. Your browser still keeps a history.
More help
- No doctor, or no way to pay one: When you need a doctor and can’t pay.
- Your state’s Medicaid agency: Your state’s offices.
- A bill that already came: Medical bills.
- No way to get to the visit: When you have no ride to the doctor.
- Medicine you can’t pay for: When you can’t afford your medicine.
- Hearing aids: Hearing loss. Glasses: Eye care.
- A lung condition: COPD.
- A home that is easier to move around in: Home safety.
- Getting older: Getting older.
- Helping someone else: Caring for someone.
- If you served: Veterans.
- A disability, and what you can apply for: Disability benefits.
- A “free equipment” offer that feels off: Is this a scam?
- Before a hard phone call: Call script.
- Right now: Get help now.
- All our free tools.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, lawyer or benefits counselor has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 8, 2026 on each source’s own pages: Medicare’s coverage pages “Durable medical equipment (DME) coverage”, “Wheelchairs & scooters”, “Walkers”, “Hospital beds” and “Oxygen equipment & accessories”, its page “Reporting Medicare fraud & abuse”, and the first lines of “Appeals in Original Medicare”; Medicaid.gov’s “Mandatory & Optional Medicaid Benefits” and “Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment”; section 440.70 of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations on eCFR.gov (up to date as of October 6, 2026); Veterans Affairs’ “VA Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service (PSAS)” (last updated April 2, 2026); the Administration for Community Living’s “Assistive Technology” (last modified 07/31/2026); section 3003 of Title 29 of the United States Code, 2024 edition, on GovInfo.gov; and the front page of the Eldercare Locator. We did not read any state’s Medicaid equipment list or any state’s assistive technology program, any Medicaid or Medicare Advantage plan, or VA’s eligibility rules for equipment, and the page says so where it matters. We read nothing about power outages. We state no price, rental rate, deductible or share of cost, and we name no supplier, brand, charity or loan closet. We called none of the phone numbers. Sentences marked “ours” are our own.