LTH, I asked my wife about this. She works in home care here in Indiana and said that Medicaid's policy only provides for beds every 5 years. I suppose your state could be different though. She did say that they would (should) pay for repairs on her current bed. So that may be a conversation worth having.

I know this wasn't the point of your post, but I'm sure you want to do what you can to help her out. Just thought I'd pass along the rationale and something you might be able to try.

I went to visit her today.  Her bed at home broke and she has been sleeping in a lift chair that her father had before he died.  Medicaid apparently won't buy her a bariatric bed for another two years (not sure of the reasoning behind that and didn't probe).  She has a broken ankle and her tibia is broken in three places because she fell trying to walk down a ramp at her house.  She was trying to walk down a ramp because her motorized wheelchair wasn't working.  She fell despite two people trying to assist her.  One might think that this much suffering might, just might, cause her to realize that she needs to make some changes.  One would be wrong.

Definitely sad to hear.  As someone who has lost a good amount of weight (and others here that have done the same know this), you can't externally motivate someone, it has to come from within.  I wish there was a way to bottle the way I feel now, to give people a glimpse of how much it completely changes your life and how much better you feel.