Cost of High-Tech Limbs May Keep Them Out of Mainstream

Beyond the wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, some of the other 1.28 million U.S. citizens who are amputees could also benefit from newer high-tech prostheses, health and insurance experts say. But they might not get them.

With the latest microprocessor knees costing about $50,000 and arms about $100,000, some health insurers refuse to pay for a high-tech limb that may function better than a traditional prosthesis but is deemed not medically necessary, says Paddy Rossbach, president of the Amputee Coalition of America, a nonprofit educational group.

“Insurance companies are already capping or eliminating reimbursement for some current prostheses,” she says. “One wonders how people are going to be able to access the really incredible things that are being made available.”

Other experts are more optimistic that insurers will find a way to provide the most suitable prostheses for anyone who has lost a limb to accidents or to vascular diseases such as diabetes.

Today’s middle-aged adults are likely to push back against insurers in seeking the most high-tech solutions, says Eythor Bender, president of the Iceland-based prosthetics company Ossur’s North America division, based in Aliso Viejo. “The baby boom generation, they just want the best,” he says. “I think they would rather buy these types of gadgets than something else.”

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-- Shari Roan