People who use wheelchairs say simple repairs can take months to complete and replacement parts can be very expensive. In part, they blame two private equity firms that control most of the market.
Transcript
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Wheelchair users in Massachusetts say there’s a monopoly on fixing their chairs created by companies owned by private equity. A group protested in Boston on Tuesday against what they call a dysfunctional system. Meghan Smith with GBH News in Boston has been covering this, and she joins me now. Thanks for being here.
MEGHAN SMITH, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: Good morning. So how do wheelchair users describe this shift?
SMITH: So the wheelchair users I’ve talked to say that 10, 15 years ago, there were a lot more options – a lot of mom-and-pop shops that they could go to where technicians got to know them personally. But that’s not the case anymore. The wheelchair repair market is now dominated by two companies – Numotion and National Seating & Mobility. Both companies are owned by private equity investment firms, and each has bought up dozens of companies and competitors.
Critics say the business model prioritizes profits and cost-cutting and that these companies take forever to fix people’s chairs. They’re investing more in the part of the company that brings in more revenue, which is selling new chairs rather than fixing old chairs. For example, critics say they don’t hire enough technicians to keep up with repair work. So I hear stories about people waiting three, five, nine months or more for a part. And the wheelchair users I talked with said the problem gets so frustrating at times that they sometimes order parts online or from a hardware store or even just go to their local bike shop for a fix.
FADEL: What do the companies say in response?
SMITH: Yeah. The companies have acknowledged that delays are too long. They wouldn’t speak to me directly, but they gave a statement through the National Coalition for Assistive & Rehab Technology. That’s a New York-based nonprofit that represents wheelchair suppliers. They said that they, quote, “agree that the repair process must be faster and more efficient.” But they focus more on the insurance side. They say that wheelchair users have to usually get approval from their insurance before getting these fixes, and that’s what’s slowing things down.
FADEL: So about a hundred people showed up for this rally in Boston. Is there something specific they want to happen?
SMITH: Yeah. Well, the rally was at South Station, which is right downtown – one of the big metro hubs in Boston. And the rally participants were talking to commuters and passing out flyers. Part of what they were doing was just raising awareness. These delays, they say, are devastating. They keep people stuck in their beds, cause them to miss work and family events and negatively affect their health. Andrea Higgins is one of the people I spoke to. She came to the rally with a backup chair because her usual chair had broken tires.
ANDREA HIGGINS: It’s kind of like cutting off my legs. And these are our livelihoods. I mean, how do we get to school or to work or take care of our families or whatever?
SMITH: But they also did have a specific focus. There’s right now a bill pending in the Massachusetts State House that would require companies to finish repairs in 10 business days. So they were advocating for that.
FADEL: What happens next with that bill?
SMITH: If it’s going to become law, it’ll need to pass before the end of the legislative session, which is July 31, and advocates are hopeful that it will. And there’s also some policy movement at the federal level. In mid-June, Representative Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat from Massachusetts, introduced a national bill. It’s aimed at speeding up the slowdown caused by insurance for people on certain Medicare plans. No firm timeline on that yet.
FADEL: That’s Meghan Smith with GBH News in Boston. Thank you for your reporting, Meghan.
SMITH: Thank you.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
