People with Medicare in Florida and Alabama who lost or damaged medical equipment in Hurricane Isaias can have it replaced. The federal government opened that door when a public health emergency was declared for both states on October 13.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said it will permit people with Medicare to receive replacements for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies lost or damaged because of the hurricane. The announcement came on October 15, and it describes the emergency as continuing.
Who declared the emergency, and for where
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. determined that public health emergencies exist in Florida and Alabama because of Hurricane Isaias. The declaration followed emergency declarations President Trump issued for both states on October 9.
The health emergency is retroactive. It took effect in Florida on October 6 and in Alabama on October 7, so equipment damaged in the first days of the storm falls inside it. In Florida, the president’s declaration covers 27 counties, a reminder of how wide the storm’s reach was.
What equipment Medicare will replace
Normally, Medicare treats a wheelchair, walker, hospital bed or oxygen unit as equipment that must last for years, and a replacement before then can be refused. The emergency changes that for storm losses. CMS says people who lost or found damage to their equipment because of the hurricane can get replacements of those items and services.
The same flexibility covers prosthetics, orthotics and supplies. That matters for people who left home in a hurry and could not bring braces, artificial limbs, diabetic supplies or dressings, or who came back to find them ruined by water. For anyone in the two states, the question now is whether a missing item is covered, and who to call first.
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The CMS announcement does not list an end date for the replacement flexibility. It also does not publish a county list for the equipment rule. The page says only that it applies to people with Medicare affected by the hurricane in the two states.
How to ask for a replacement
CMS points people with Medicare to 1-800-MEDICARE, which is 1-800-633-4227, for help with the replacement. Anyone in Florida or Alabama who is missing equipment can start there, and the Medicare.gov site is the free official place to find a plan, supplier or phone number.
Medicare Advantage members are in a slightly different spot, because their plan, not the original program, handles equipment. Plan members can start by calling the number on the back of the plan card, then ask 1-800-MEDICARE if the plan is slow to respond.
Part D refills and other storm help from CMS
Equipment is only one piece of the announcement. For people who lost their medicines, CMS said it expects Part D plans to remove “refill too soon” edits, so a pharmacy should not turn someone away for asking for a refill early. Plans must also reimburse out-of-network pharmacy payments for refills when the enrollee is in the emergency area.
People on dialysis have their own lines. CMS lists ESRD Network 7 for Florida at 1-800-936-2620 and ESRD Network 8 for Alabama at 1-877-936-9260. Both networks are helping dialysis patients find treatment while clinics recover.
There is also a health insurance angle for anyone who lost coverage under a Marketplace plan. CMS says people affected by the FEMA emergency have up to 60 days from the end of the FEMA-designated incident period to pick or change a plan. Marketplace callers can reach the Call Center at 1-800-318-2596.
Hurricane relief rarely arrives in one tidy announcement. The Medicare piece came from CMS, the declaration came from HHS, and the Marketplace piece rests on a separate FEMA incident period. A family has to put three agencies together to see the full picture, and the CMS newsroom listing shows the storm alert sitting among unrelated state grant announcements.
Anyone who knows a neighbor, parent or friend in Florida or Alabama with a lost scooter, oxygen concentrator or hearing aid supplies can pass along the number. The flexibility exists, but nothing in the announcement says Medicare will start the replacement on its own.
The rest of the cost picture can still catch families off guard. A replaced item may bring cost sharing, and a lost prescription may land in a plan with a deductible. How much of that Medicare covers depends on the item, the plan and whether the supplier takes assignment.
Keeping a simple list helps with all of it. Writing down each lost item, the date it was lost, the supplier that provided it and every call made to 1-800-MEDICARE gives a family something to point to if a supplier or plan pushes back. Photos of the damaged equipment, where safe to take them, add to that record. Anyone who has already paid out of pocket for a replacement should hold on to the receipt and ask Medicare or the plan whether it can be reviewed under the emergency flexibility, since the CMS announcement does not say how earlier purchases will be handled.
Storm bills still stacking up after Isaias?
Replacing the equipment is the first step, and the bills that follow are the second. Cost sharing on a new walker or oxygen unit, a refill at a higher drug tier, and a plan change after displacement all land on households that were already stretched by the storm.
The Medicare Cost & Coverage Protection Kit turns to that second step. It includes the 51 state Medicare cost-help packs and the new Part D out-of-pocket cap, along with a medication and cost tracker. The state packs cover the programs that can pay Medicare premiums and cut drug bills, with the limits and application steps for Florida and Alabama.
Get the Medicare cost-help kit for storm-related equipment and drug bills →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
