We spend two or three times that much on durable medical devices like canes and wheelchairs, in part because a heavily lobbied Congress forces Medicare to pay 25% to 75% more for this equipment than it would cost at Walmart.
But as Matt Yglaseis points out, Medicare for all would fix our problems.
It’s worse than that. When my mother-in-law died, she had five wheelchairs. Two were electric. We called and called and finally found a place that would take them as donations. There is no secondary market for wheelchairs, which are expensive, because Medicare only pays for new ones and, since Medicare pays for them, there is no incentive for anyone to get a used one.
The Veterans Home in NJ finally took them. Thank goodness. They’d have gone into a dumpster if the VH hadn’t taken them.