Post by snowyh on Mar 12, 2015 10:31:21 GMT -7
A February 2015 article by the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) criticizing the hype about recent non-FDA-compliant advances in prosthetics states in part that "reports frequently include serious inaccuracies in characterizing current costs of federally compliant advanced upper extremity prosthetics as between $40,000 and $80,000, when actual costs are often only about one-twentieth of those amounts ($1,500 to $5,000)."
Full article here: www.aopanet.org/2015/02/aopa-statement-on-3-d-printing-in-prosthetics-and-frequent-errant-estimates-of-the-average-cost-of-upper-and-lower-limb-custom-fabricated-prosthetic-devices/
I'm generally not a prosthesis-wearer, though I have bought three shoulder prostheses over my 40+ years as an amputee. If memory serves, each of those cost me & my insurance company from $600 (in 1981) to $1,100 (in 1995). That's just for a hunk of foam rubber equipped with a strap. The price, of course, included casting & fitting. It just doesn't make sense to me that even the simplest arm prosthesis could cost under $5K in 2015. Thoughts?
Helen
Full article here: www.aopanet.org/2015/02/aopa-statement-on-3-d-printing-in-prosthetics-and-frequent-errant-estimates-of-the-average-cost-of-upper-and-lower-limb-custom-fabricated-prosthetic-devices/
I'm generally not a prosthesis-wearer, though I have bought three shoulder prostheses over my 40+ years as an amputee. If memory serves, each of those cost me & my insurance company from $600 (in 1981) to $1,100 (in 1995). That's just for a hunk of foam rubber equipped with a strap. The price, of course, included casting & fitting. It just doesn't make sense to me that even the simplest arm prosthesis could cost under $5K in 2015. Thoughts?
Helen
