News > Latest > COPD Treatment
Retired With COPD? Here's How to Reclaim the Life You Worked 40 Years For.
By: Walter Chao | Sponsored by Carda Health
January 15, 2025
Lynn Brooks, 68, started counting steps—but not the kind tracked by fitness apps.
She was counting how many steps she could take from her bedroom to her bathroom before her heart started racing and she couldn't breathe.
The answer shocked her: Thirty-five steps.
"I actually counted them," Lynn says. "Thirty-five steps and I had to stop and gasp for air like I'd just run a marathon."
After decades of working as an elementary school teacher, Lynn had imagined retirement differently. Maybe some travel. Definitely more time with her grandchildren. Perhaps finally starting that vegetable garden.
Instead, COPD had trapped her inside her living room.
Today, Lynn's life looks completely different. She walks normally. She goes to the grocery store. She visits friends. She has, in her words, "a LIFE again."
What changed? She found a lung rehab program that's covered by Medicare with qualifying supplemental insurance—one that her doctor never mentioned and that 95% of COPD patients don't even know exists.
If you're retired with COPD and Medicare, what you're about to read could change everything.
The Treatment 95% of COPD Patients Never Get (And Why That Should Make You Angry)
Here's something that should really bother you:
There's a treatment program made specifically to help people with COPD breathe easier, get stronger, and take back their independence. Medical experts call it one of the most important treatments for COPD—not optional, not "nice to have," but necessary. Studies show it can make your life better, keep you out of the hospital, and help you breathe easier in as little as 12 weeks.
And it's covered by Medicare with qualifying supplemental insurance.
But here's the problem: Only 5% of people who qualify ever get this treatment.
Think about that for a moment.
Not because it doesn't work. (It does—we'll show you proof.)
Not because they don't qualify. (Most people with COPD and Medicare do.)
Because the healthcare system makes it almost impossible to get—and most doctors never even tell you about it.
You've been paying into Medicare for decades. This treatment can be covered with qualifying supplemental insurance. Yet nobody told you it exists.
Why Traditional Lung Rehab Is Set Up to Fail You
After looking into why people can't get lung rehab, we found out why this important treatment stays out of reach for the people who need it most.
Here's what traditional hospital-based lung rehab asks you to do:
Drive to a hospital 2-3 times every week for 12 weeks (when you can barely walk to your car)
Pay $22+ every visit (that's over $792 for the full program—straight out of your Social Security check)
Find parking and walk through crowded hospital parking lots when you're already out of breath
Go during their limited hours (usually when you're most tired)
Still have energy to exercise after the exhausting trip just to get there
Research shows that getting to the hospital and physical problems are the main reasons people never start lung rehab. The system creates an impossible problem: the people who need help most can't get to it.
Many patients told the same story: Getting to rehab was harder than the rehab itself.
"By the time I walked from the parking lot to the rehab room, I was so out of breath I could barely do the exercises," one patient said. "I quit after two weeks because just getting there was too hard."
This is why 95% of COPD patients never get the treatment that could give them their lives back.
And the whole time, you're spending $300+ every month on inhalers that only hide your symptoms. You're saving your energy just to make it through the day. You're watching your retirement slip away one missed moment at a time.
There has to be a better way.
What If Rehab Could Come to YOU Instead?
Here's where things get interesting.
A new type of virtual lung rehab program is changing everything by bringing care covered by Medicare with qualifying supplemental insurance right into your home.
The biggest name doing this? Carda Health—a program that's helped thousands of COPD patients using a completely at-home system that removes every barrier that's kept you from getting help.
✅ No more impossible drives to hospitals.
✅ No more choosing between your health and your energy.
✅ No more watching your retirement slip away.
Here's exactly how it works:
📦 EVERYTHING YOU NEED—DELIVERED FREE TO YOUR DOOR
Within days of signing up, a complete package arrives at your home:
✅ Tablet (with the Carda app already set up—no computer skills needed)
✅ Heart rate monitor (makes sure you're exercising safely)
✅ Blood pressure monitor (tracks how you're doing)
✅ Pulse oximeter (checks your oxygen levels)
✅ Easy-to-read materials (everything explained simply)
If you can turn on a TV, you can use this. And if you need help? Carda's tech support team walks you through setup step-by-step.
No complicated technology. No confusion. No excuses.
👨⚕️ REAL EXPERTS WATCHING YOU LIVE—NOT JUST PRE-RECORDED VIDEOS
Linda paid into Medicare for years before anyone told her about pulmonary rehabilitation.
Lynn was counting 35 steps before getting winded—thinking that was her life now.
Diane was trapped in her house on oxygen, believing she'd never have a life again.
They all got their lives back with Carda Health.
And they were all eligible from the start. They just didn't know.
🏠 DO IT ALL FROM YOUR LIVING ROOM
No driving.
No parking lots.
No exhausting trips that leave you too tired to exercise.
You do your rehab sessions in your own living room—where you're comfortable, relaxed, and have everything you need close by.
This is rehab made for people with COPD, not despite COPD.
💰 COVERED BY MEDICARE WITH QUALIFYING SUPPLEMENTAL INSURANCE
Here's the part that surprises most people:
If you pay $0 when you see your doctor, you usually pay $0 for Carda with qualifying supplemental insurance.
The company says 50% of patients pay nothing because their Medicare with qualifying supplemental insurance covers it completely.
You've been paying into Medicare for decades. With the right supplemental insurance, this is what you paid for.
You're not asking for a handout. You're claiming benefits you already earned.
The Results Say It All: 92% Feel Much Better in 12 Weeks
Carda Health's patient results show that 92% of patients say they feel significantly better within just 12 weeks.
Not "a little better." Not "about the same."
Much better.
Let's hear from real patients who went through the program:
Lynn Brooks, 68:
"I went from counting 35 steps before getting winded to walking normally and doing activities I thought were gone forever. When I found out my insurance covered this, I couldn't believe I'd never heard about it before. I wish someone had told me two years ago. I lost two years of my retirement being trapped in my house."
Diane Ellsworth, COPD Patient:
"I was literally stuck in my house on my oxygen 24/7. Now I can go to the grocery store, visit friends, have a LIFE! This program has literally changed my life. I will definitely keep doing my therapy even after I finish."
Paul, 65:
"This weekend I went to the baseball game with my grandson and walked around the stadium for the first time in a very long time instead of using my scooter—after just 6 weeks in the program. My therapist is great, she is the best part about the program."
Doris Helfer:
"My energy level has gone up and I can now climb stairs without losing my breath. Thank you Carda Health, you have changed my life."
These aren't hand-picked stories. Carda Health has a 4.9-star rating on Trustpilot from over 700 real patient reviews.
This works. The question is: How much longer will you wait to find out if it could work for you?
Why Your Doctor Probably Never Told You About This
So why don't more doctors tell patients about lung rehab?
Time is a big reason. Most doctors only have 15 minutes with you. They're focused on your immediate problems—prescribing medications, adjusting treatments. Lung rehab often doesn't come up in these short visits.
There's also a guessing problem. Many doctors assume you won't be able to get to hospital-based programs, so they don't bring it up. It becomes a cycle: Doctors assume you can't get there → They don't tell you about it → You never hear about it → No one gets treatment.
And finally, many doctors don't know about virtual options yet. Virtual lung rehab is pretty new. Many doctors simply don't know it exists for their patients.
"Carda Health allows me to follow patients as they get better and see the improvement in their daily activities that lung rehab can provide," says Dr. Julie Rothschild, a doctor who spent 20 years in emergency medicine before joining Carda Health.
The Catch: Spots Fill Up Fast
Here's the one thing you need to know:
Carda Health can't take unlimited patients.
Why? Because they won't sacrifice quality. Every patient gets their own Clinical Exercise Physiologist who watches them live during sessions. That means they can only take a certain number of patients at a time.
So enrollment is limited each month.
As more retirees find out about this program (like you're finding out right now), spots fill up. When they're full, you go on a waitlist—just like traditional programs.
The difference is: People who get in actually finish the program. Because it's at home. Because it's easy. Because it actually works.
Check If You Qualify (Takes Less Than 2 Minutes)
Carda Health has a simple online check. No complicated forms. No digging up medical records. Just basic questions that tell you right away if you're likely covered.
→ CHECK IF I QUALIFY NOW
✅ Free to check
✅ No credit card needed
✅ Takes under 2 minutes
✅ Available in most U.S. states
If you pay $0 when you see your doctor, you could pay $0 for Carda with qualifying supplemental insurance.
What Happens If You Don't Check?
Let's think about this:
Six months from now, you'll be six months older.
Your COPD will likely be six months worse.
You'll have missed six more months with grandkids. Six more months of trips you didn't take. Six more months of life watched from the sidelines.
And you'll still be wondering: "Is there something out there that could help me?"
Or...
You could spend 2 minutes right now checking if you qualify.
If you don't qualify? Fine. You'll know. You lost 2 minutes.
But if you DO qualify? You could be walking farther, breathing easier, and actually living your retirement 12 weeks from now.
Which one would you rather live with?
The Bottom Line
95% of COPD patients never get lung rehab.
Not because they don't qualify.
Not because it doesn't work.
Because they don't know it exists.
Now you know.
The question is: What will you do with that knowledge?
Sources & Citations:
[1] Based on Carda Health internal patient outcome data from verified patient surveys.
[2] Philip A. Ades, MD, Steven J. Keteyian, PhD, et al., "Increasing Cardiac Rehabilitation Participation From 20% to 70%: A Road Map From the Million Hearts Cardiac Rehabilitation Collaborative," Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2017 Feb; 92(2): 234–242.
[3] Carda Health patient testimonials and verified Trustpilot reviews (4.9/5 rating based on 700+ verified reviews).
[4] "Pulmonary rehabilitation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, National Library of Medicine.
