Comment by jillesvangurp | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jillesvangurp | Hacker News Reader

I just did a search for wheelchairs on the German version of Amazon. I'm not in the market but I was just curious.

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/bestsellers/drugstore/28602980...

There are lots of models with very reasonable prices and features; mostly well below 1000 euros. Including a few electric ones. Manual ones seem to be generally well below 500 euros. At 1000 euros we're talking some seriously tricked out models with all sorts of features that I'd probably want if I was in the market. I'd probably spend a bit more. And I'd be very surprised to not get support from my insurer for this.

The model in the article pretty bare bones in comparison. Not just a little bit. Like really bare bones. I'm sure it's great and ergonomic and really good quality. But what's the real story here? Inept US manufacturing or corrupt US insurers? Or both?

For reference, I just found a very reasonable looking electric wheelchair for 999 euros by a company called WISGING. With some 5 star reviews from buyers. In stock. Would arrive around 9 October if I ordered it now. 20km range, apparently.

The stuff on Amazon looks like it comes mostly from China where they are probably producing these things in large volumes to provide affordable, decent wheel chairs for whomever needs them around the world.

The world is bigger than the US and people use wheel chairs all over the place. The kind of pricing and quality cited in the article in the US would be completely unacceptable in most parts of the world. And never mind the shipping times. Is it not possible to simply import these things? I'm sure there are some tariffs to deal with but even so, what's stopping people here?

If you’re not in the market, I find it ironic you think you can assess if that $999 electric chair or those sub-$500 manual chairs are good deals. From the other comments here it seems like they aren’t.

Everyone is whooooooshing on this because they literally don't understand using wheelchairs.

Not-A-Wheelchair is offering wheelchairs customized to your dimensions. Many insurance wheelchairs that cost $$$$$ are also custom built/fitted to your dimensions. There are absolutely cheap wheelchairs in the US. But people in wheelchairs due to permanent disabilities want comfort and rightfully deserve it. The designs being worked on here by Not-A-Wheelchair are basically all "lifestyle" chairs, rather than boring "temporary injury" chairs.

it's funny seeing comments like this on the same website where people insist- not unreasonably- that buying $3k ergonomic office chairs and motorized sit-stand desks for office workers is a must. Why can't they sit on piled up packing pallets? It's much cheaper and still kind of chair-shaped.

I don't believe the parent comment is saying people who need wheelchairs should get a cheaper worse option, they are pointing out that reasonable options in Germany exist for less than a grand whereas in the US, these reasonable options are borderline unaffordable

The Amazon results in the US are basically the same. You can buy chairs for $200 in the same way you can buy a bike from Walmart for $200. $200 chairs aren't suitable for day-to-day mobility, especially outside. This article I found in another comment explains the difference:

https://www.sammcintosh.com/blog/wheelchairtypes0620

Hospital chairs and everyday chairs are both technically wheelchairs, but they are totally different products for different purposes.

We're not talking about tech bros here but ordinary people desperate to get any wheel chair at all and then having to settle for some garbage quality insurer approved over priced thing that may or may not ship on a 6 month schedule.

I don't think these wheel chairs have any magical properties over the stuff used in Germany. Other than that they are really expensive.

You can buy that sort of chair in America too, often called "hospital" chairs, for about the same price. They are "one size fits all" and therefore don't fit anyone. They are not designed to be used long-term. This link from another comment explains the difference:

https://www.sammcintosh.com/blog/wheelchairtypes0620

If you need a wheelchair for a couple weeks it's fine. If you need it for life, not so fine. People who can't afford a proper day chair or are mired in insurance hell sometimes make do with them, but they can suck ass. They're totally different products and are suitable for different uses.

They're different chairs; $200 hospital chairs on Amazon have no relationship to the price of the sort of chair the company from the article is working on.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41716302

I would love to see some comments from German wheelchair users on this. I don't think US has particularly high or different standards for this stuff. I do know its healthcare system is a bit of a basket case.

The chairs on Amazon.de and Amazon.com are the same exact cheapo "hospital" chairs that aren't suitable for long-term use for most people. Germans aren't all zipping around on cheap hospital chairs any more happily than Americans are.

https://www.amazon.de/-/en/PEPE-Wheelchair-Lightweight-Trans...

https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Medical-Wheelchair-Removable-Fo...

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