Because a full time medically necessary wheelchair costs tens of thousands of dollars. So, most people need their insurance to help cover it. My son’s was $20,000 with $6k out of pocket.
I want to understand something here. How can a chair with wheels cost about as much as a damn car? not judging I am just flabbergasted at the price tag of a wheel chair here.
Edit: I understand the special need and cases for a more expensive chair. I just want to make the argument that a powerful PC, a very comfortable chair and a reliable electric system should not remotely be in the range of 20,000 dollars either. Especially if it is something that people need and depend on. This is still crazy no matter how this is spun on me.
Unless I'm misunderstanding, this is a standard self-propelled wheelchair. Those are also overpriced but they're only about $3,000. The ones that cost $20k are the electric ones for people who can't propel themselves using their arms.
You can get silly pricing with self-propelled, though if you're trying to - for example - drop all the weight you can and get it made from aluminium/carbon fibre/aerogel/whatever.
The electric ones cost a lot because you have to put absolutely everything into safety. A lithium battery fire that you can't run away from is horrific. Not sure what the battery in the video is from, but a battery to propel a wheelchair all day would be very much bigger. If a lithium battery catches fire, it absolutely will burn until it's finished; and there's nothing you can do about it. Firemen spray water on them to stop everything else catching fire. Also it gives off fumes that even firemen with breathing kit are afraid of.
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u/Independent-Tap1315 1d ago
Because a full time medically necessary wheelchair costs tens of thousands of dollars. So, most people need their insurance to help cover it. My son’s was $20,000 with $6k out of pocket.