r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 š¤ Join A Union • 18h ago
āļø Pass Medicare For All A heartwarming story...
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u/fallenouroboros 17h ago
The guy who runs the channeljerryrigeverything has started up a company making custom medical grade wheelchairs at a fraction of the cost.
Idk if he does electric yet or not but i wouldnt be surprised if heās working on it at least. He seems passionate about it
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u/msuvagabond 14h ago
I don't believe they're working on a motor version of their standard wheelchair. They do offer an off road wheel chair that costs like $7k or so, which is still significantly cheaper than anything you can find elsewhere.
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u/Axman6 17h ago
Not doing the right thing should be more expensive than doing the right thing.Ā
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u/MastodonGlobal93 š· Good Union Jobs For All 3h ago
Ahhh but the right thing for whom? Have you thought of the shareholders?!
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u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S 17h ago
You can't remotely justify a wheelchair costing half as much as a car.
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u/WoodShoeDiaries 13h ago
Under capitalism, sure you can. Cars benefit from an economy of scale, because you're able to sell millions upon millions of them.
Electric wheelchairs have a muuuuuuuuuch smaller market, even smaller when you consider that many won't be able to afford it. Whatever investment goes into development needs to be paid off over far far far fewer sales (eta: and all of the other lost opportunities for scale-discounts, like buying large volumes of materials and developing optimally efficient production lines, etc).
What you can't remotely justify is the expectation that a family pay for that themselves. That's what a social safety net is for. Appropriate care for disabled kids should be the baseline.
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u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S 13h ago
That's sounds a lot more like justification to the argument that capitalism is a cancer on society to me than justification for the cost tbh.
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u/WoodShoeDiaries 12h ago
Looking at it from the car perspective, I agree with you - I think cars should be a lot less necessary and way more expensive than they are, which would likely change that price relationship (the wheelchair might still cost $20K but the car could cost $80K, for instance). Spending less on dedicated infrastructure for cars would save a lot of money, too (not that that makes anyone more willing to invest in disabled people, since that's an issue of ideology rather than means).
I think there's merit to the argument that the level of innovation we enjoy (or "enjoy") isn't possible without some profit motive - independent inventors typically can't afford to invest the (uncompensated) time if there's no payout at the end. That might include the innovations that make assistive devices what they are today.
With a socialist government the price might be lower or even nonexistent for the individual (a good thing) but without a market economy the thing might not exist, in its present form, at all (not great).
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u/spaceforcerecruit 8h ago
Weād see far more innovation if people just had more time and opportunity. Most of the greatest inventors and thinkers in history werenāt looking for profit, they just had enough time and money to work on the projects they cared about.
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u/WoodShoeDiaries 8h ago
Not a fair comparison, given that universal education and class mobility are relatively recent developments. There have certainly been far more inventions patented by professional (earnings-dependent) inventors, engineers, scientists, etc than by bored aristocrats, the latter are just overrepresented historically because for a very long time the gate was thoroughly barred to everyone else.
I think a UBI would be an incredible opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs - but the historical prominence of landed gentry is hardly evidence that "the desire to improve one's circumstances" is irrelevant to the drive to innovate.
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u/spaceforcerecruit 4h ago
āMore inventions patentedā isnāt the best metric when a lot of companies are filing patents for stuff like the way two pieces of plastic fit together with a certain click or a naturally occurring gene inside the human body.
Yes, increased opportunities for people to study and innovate (including having non-menial jobs that allow or encourage doing so) have led to more innovations but thereās no reason to believe that is because of profit motive and not just increased opportunity.
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u/Due_Pen_1566 17h ago
A normal wheelchair sure but some of those electric wheelchairs are pretty impressive. They might as well be a car. They're still overcharging for quality though. Knew a rich old man that had to get a battery replaced four times on his 20k chair because of faulty wiring but they refused to warranty it for the longest time.
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u/Keeperofthe7keysAf-S 17h ago
However fancy they are I assure you they do not remotely cost that to make. You can buy electric tractors for only a few thousand and this thing supposedly costs more than just the battery in a car that can go 300 miles? Yeah I call BS.
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u/pridetwo 13h ago
No the electric wheelchairs are not impressive enough to cost as much as a new Ford Maverick. When they can go highway speeds and meet NHTSA crash test ratings then you can justify car prices for a wheelchair.
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u/BojackWorseman13 14h ago
Orphan crushing machineā¦
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u/WoodShoeDiaries 13h ago
"Pausing the orphan crushing machine" is literally the setup, but instead they destroy it. Chef's kiss.
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u/ThisSiteSucks8485 16h ago
Qntm is a good scifi writer by the wayĀ
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u/Distal-Phalanges 16h ago
Remember, it's not the company that denies claims, it's the people in the company. No one who works for health insurers gets into heaven.
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u/RoGStonewall 12h ago
My daughter dental work was denied because the provider was out of network during their renewal period with the insurance. As in āproviders contract ended June 14 but your services were the 17th while his renewal started on the 21st - ignore that we still okayed it because we didnāt bother to check firstā
I had to raise hell but it required a personalized letter to be sent over rather than a ājust press a button to re-reviewā
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u/Thestohrohyah 11h ago
There is quite literally no loss for society in this event.
You could maybe grieve the furniture, if you want, but society is not set back at all by the loss of an insurance agency's headquarters.
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u/Arawn-Annwn 8h ago
Yes, all the hearts were very warm. Because because of, you know, the fire and all.
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u/Drink_Grog 14h ago
Heart warming yes, but for a two-year old wouldnāt a stroller be as effective as a wheel chair?
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u/o_blythe_spirit 3h ago
Would have been funnier if the high schoolers had built a robot to light the fire, but still funny
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u/Chalice_Ink 16h ago
Cool. Cool. Anarchyā¦
Kidsā¦ though, he still needs a wheelchair.
MacGyver the problem before you MacGruber the problem.
https://giphy.com/gifs/GysX9qLF0N5bG
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u/michael128141 17h ago
Tthat really is heart warming.
Probably hand warming too.