No Quick Fix

Two national companies took over the motorized wheelchair industry. Disabled customers have been paying the price.

- Paul Roberts

PARALYZED FROM THE waist down after being struck by a truck in 2012, Douglas Howey is one of hundreds of thousands of Americans who rely on what is known as "complex rehabilitation technology." In Howey's case: a Permobil F5 Corpus motorized wheelchair outfitted with an elevator lift motor, two batteries, headlights, and a joystick. Brand-new, it retails for almost $35,000.

In just two years, Howey logged 4,000 miles in his chair. Then, in early August, a bearing seized, stranding him in bed until he could get a technician to service the chair. Howey called Numotion, the manufacturer responsible for repairs, right away. But Numotion didn't replace the part until October 26, more than 80 days after Howey first called.

A sudden loss of mobility can affect everything from wheelchair users' nutrition to their finances. Pressure sores from long stays in bed can lead to infections, hospitalization, even death. But Howey is one of thousands of disabled Americans increasingly experiencing long waits in a fast-consolidating market dominated by a handful of large national suppliers backed by private equity firms.

To understand this sudden transformation in the $56 billion durable medical equipment market, of which complex rehabilitation technology (CRT) is one part, experts and advocates point to a decade-old decision by Medicare to abandon set prices in favor of ones set by competitive bidding. By one estimate, the move reduced the federal government's costs by 35 percent. But at the same time, locally owned wheelchair shops quickly began to disappear as large corporations offered rock-bottom bids to Medicare and private insurers.