[ Thanks to Amy Bennett for this link. ]
Years ago I hung out with a friend who had a prosthetic
hand. It was a stiff plastic hand, like a store mannequin hand,
that could open and close in a simple grip. It didn’t have much
functionality, but it had a bit of fun factor — my friend liked to
remove it to scratch his back. In public, of course, with a
freaked-out audience. Americans seem to have a hard time looking at
these sorts of things.Prosthetics have advanced since those days, especially in cost.
It’s amazing how labeling an item as medical equipment makes it
cost 10 to 100 times more, even ordinary parts like nuts, bolts,
batteries, and power supplies. A prosthetic limb starts at five
figures, and in these here kindly times good luck getting insurance
to pay, because it’s become a one-way flow — we’re supposed to pay
our premiums without desiring to collect any benefits.