Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement in the patients that are diagnosed with it. Here in the United States data shows that there are more than 200,000 cases per year; and that is just the data for the United States.

It has been shown that staying active can help slow down Parkinson’s Disease and control its symptoms. One program that helps Parkinson’s patients is called Rock Steady Boxing. This program is a non-contact boxing inspired fitness program to help Parkinson’s patients manage their symptoms and regain some control over their lives that Parkinson’s Disease tries to take away from them. Aside from that this program also helps patients meet other patients and socialize with people going through the same condition even if it manifests itself differently in different patients.

 I have personally seen this program in action and I can say that it is a very visible improvement in the people that attend it. November 2021 my father-in-law was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. At first the diagnosis distressed him greatly, but his family doctor told us about Rock Steady Boxing. At first we were confused as to why they would have Parkinson’s patients start boxing. Our doctor explained that it wasn’t boxing in the sense that we thought. In that explanation she said that the class was about the movement and not the actual sport. So after talking with her my husband and I started looking into the program online while my father-in-law continued to process the fact that he had Parkinson’s Disease. In our research we found that there was a lot of information about the program and it was all positive information. We watched some of the videos about the program and it’s classes. It was astounding watching them all at different stages of the condition and how well they were moving around. We showed these videos to my father-in-law and they seemed to interest him enough to ask us to see where the closest location to him offered the program. We looked and found in our area of Northeast Indiana there were 2 locations in Fort Wayne. We all looked at the information, picked a location, and came to observe a class. After which he decided that he wanted to join the class. 

After that decision we got him signed up for the class and filled out the paperwork. While we filled out the information we asked if they knew if insurance would cover the class or if they would reimburse him for the fee. The location we selected were not completely sure as insurance companies all typically do different things and they advised that we call his insurance company to ask them. We called his insurance company to find that despite it being a program that would drastically help his health the insurance company would not cover it or reimburse him the class fee because it wasn’t a Silver Sneakers program.

After that call with his insurance company, he at first wasn’t sure if he was going to do the class because he is retired and living on a fixed income. Eventually he decided that the benefits of the class out weighed the cost and he started attending classes every week. From his other classmates we learned that their insurance companies didn’t cover the class either. It astounded my husband and I that the insurance companies wouldn’t cover a program that shows it helps Parkinson’s patients maintain their independence and improve their health. There are probably many patients who don’t join this program because they either can’t afford or their insurance company doesn’t cover it.

My father-in-law has been in his Rock Steady Boxing class since July of 2022 and his progress has been astonishing. When he started he had problems with his walking, sitting, standing, and other activities involving movement. In his first month he was able to get up out of a chair without any help from anyone or the arm of a chair. By his second month he was able to do squats without help or fear of falling. We are in his third month of class and we can see the improvement in the way he walks. This program has helped him so much, and not just him but it has helped many other people living with Parkinson’s Disease. My father-in-law is a wonderful, sweet, kind, funny, caring, and generous person to everyone; and he helps anyone that he can when he can. So I felt that I should speak out for him and others to help them in return. I want this petition to help get insurance companies to start covering this program that has proven the benefits it has for the people in the program.

Insurance companies are always wanting the people they cover to do things that help improve their health and take care of their health conditions. If that is the case then why do they need cover programs like this? They want people to get better and manage their health, then they should put their words into action and start covering programs like Rock Steady Boxing.