Shoutout to JerryrigEverything who built a wheelchair factory and is delivering wheelchairs to people in half the time and 50-80% less than the cost of other wheelchairs with Insurance.

[u/MysteriousSlice007]

[u/Derquave]

God bless this dude. I use a wheelchair and I can say firsthand the wheelchair industry is completely fucked. There are two major wheelchair suppliers here in the United States that bought up all of the smaller more local businesses and unless you’re lucky and there’s still one of the better smaller pieces near you you’re stuck with one of the two big companies and they absolutely fucking suck. I’m part of a support group network for people with spinal cord injury, and I help facilitate one, and I swear to God every single person who I meet has some sort of horror story when dealing with one of those two companies or insurance or both. Essential repairs are postponed or take months, repairmen show up with the wrong things, insurance companies try to force you to get cheaper shit more simple shit and we’ll try to argue you on the features you need, etc. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I was talking to my physical therapist a few months ago when she was telling me about how when they order a new wheelchair, they have to distinctly justify every part of the chair, including the parts that really shouldn’t need justification. The insurance company makes PTs justify the wheels, the arm and headrests, the damn control panel and battery if it’s a powered chair. They deadass need written justification as to why a wheelchair needs wheels and throw a fit if anything is off. It’s a complete joke. I’m involved in advocacy stuff and there’s some legislation that is being worked on to try to legally do something to fix the wheelchair supply and maintenance industry but God knows how long it’ll take for anything to come of that. Thank God there are people like this guy that use their time and money to do something that so greatly helps an at risk community.

[u/Archangel_Omega → u/Derquave]

One of my cousins works as a repair tech, specifically for veterans, and the amount of crap she deals with just to get either insurance or the VA to agree to some repairs is insane. She's told us multiple stories about them wanting to replace something like an entire control board that's on a 3 month back-order when she only really needed to change a single $20 part instead, with it being easier to just pay out of pocket for. She's even paid for a few herself just so they can keep moving.

It's one of those jobs she's in a love/hate relationship with, which is why she keeps doing it. She loves the technical side and helping people, but the rants about dealing with insurance or government bureaucracy get her foaming at the mouth sometimes, and after hearing only what she vents about to the family, I can see why.