1. How might the anticipated changes in U.S. health care coverage affect Invacare’s current marketing strategies and demand for its products?

Modern devices that provide mobility where it is needed can trace their history to the Fay Manufacturing Company in Elyria, Ohio, in the 1880s. Originally a bicycle and tricycle manufacturer, the company changed directions when Winslow Fay recognized the need for mobility among wounded veterans and children. He redesigned his tricycles to enable people considered “crippled” at that time to move about.

After achieving nationwide distribution of these products, Fay sold out to the Worthington Manufacturing Company in the early 1890s. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company became Invacare and, in 1979, an entrepreneurial group led by Mal Mixon and J. B. Richey purchased the company.

Changes in the company paralleled changes in the wheelchair industry. Although wheelchair-like devices were used in ancient times, something akin to modern wheelchairs were not developed until the 16th century. However, since chronically ill or disabled people had short life spans, the need for wheelchairs was not perceived to be important. By the late 19th century, survival rates were higher, but most people needing a wheelchair were considered to be invalids—best kept at home or in an institution. Two world wars and a polio pandemic in the first half of the 20th century greatly increased the number of people with limited mobility, but attitudes about their care had not changed much.

When Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States from 1933 to 1945, became a victim of polio at the age of 39, perceptions started to change. Determined to lead an active life, Roosevelt developed his own wheelchair—a lightweight chair on rollers that could pass through normal-sized doors.