SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Debbie Brown used to process medical and dental forms for a living before a debilitating illness forced her into early disability retirement and left her in a simple, no-frills wheelchair -- a rented wheelchair that has cost taxpayers about $1,200.



CNN found a wheelchair similar to Debbie Brown's taxpayer-funded Medicare wheelchair for a fourth of the price.



Brown says the public should be outraged about her wheelchair.



Why? She says she could buy a comparable wheelchair on the Internet for $440 if she had the money. It sounded hard to believe that her rented, $1,200 taxpayer-funded wheelchair could be bought for $440, so CNN decided to check -- and instead found an even better deal.



CNN went to the same company that charges Medicare for Brown's chair, Apria Healthcare, and bought it for $349 -- about a fourth of what taxpayers' have paid for Brown's rented wheelchair.



That's why this slightly built woman, who lives modestly with her husband in Sacramento, California, believes her story and her wheelchair underscore the bigger problem of reforming health care in America.



"Now you multiply that by how many people have a manual wheelchair, especially the baby boomers, it multiplies and multiplies and that money could be spent, even a hundred dollars out of that ... could give someone else the options that they need," Brown said.



Reforming health care is at the top of the agenda in Washington. Everyone seems to agree this nation's health care costs and care availability are out of whack. Fixing it is another problem altogether. The Clintons failed. President Bush tried and got push-back as well. Now President Obama says he will do it because America can't put it off any longer.



But he, too, is finding the way forward is not an easy path.



Terms like "affordability," "single payer," "universal coverage," and an entire lexicon have become part of the health care buzz lingo. It is a complex issue with so many facets, so many lobbyists and so many special interests that one proposal seems to result in a competing proposal or proposals, or competing parties with concerns of their own.



To illustrate how difficult it will be to overhaul America's health care, CNN decided to focus on one item in the nation's health care bill: a basic wheelchair. The wheelchair, in its own small way, CNN discovered, gives a glimpse of the contentious and complex debate swirling around health care reform.



CNN interviewed Brown and her husband, Dennis Brown, at a community center in Sacramento. It is a place the couple visits frequently; it is free, offers programs, books, entertainment and features a park to stroll in.



Debbie Brown sent an e-mail to CNN months ago, outraged over the continuing Medicare payments for a wheelchair that after four years of use is not in the best shape. It squeaks and is hard to navigate. Her ride in it is made more difficult because her husband, retired from the armed services, is also on disability and has trouble getting the wheelchair in and out of the car. On days he is not well, he sometimes has trouble pushing her.



She showed CNN her bills and documented the fact that Medicare is still paying for the wheelchair after all these years. Medicare, with Brown's permission, confirmed the payments.



Brown referred us to the Internet sites where comparable chairs -- and better ones than hers -- are listed for a fraction of the cost Medicare pays over time. The Browns have a limited income and say they cannot afford to buy one.



That's when CNN decided to check Brown's story by buying one directly from Apria, based in Lake Forest, California. CNN paid cash for the chair after calling one of Apria's offices in an Atlanta, Georgia, suburb.



Apria representatives told the CNN buyer that the chair Brown had is no longer made but offered the model that is being rented and sold as the replacement model for the one Brown still uses.



When CNN
What does Debbie Brown think? Who believes her story? What is the debate? What can the wheelchair be bought for? Who found the cheaper chair? Who found a chair that could be bought for a fourth of the price? What can be bought for $440?
says the public should be outraged about her wheelchair. Debbie Brown health care reform. $349 CNN CNN a comparable wheelchair on the Internet
question: What does Debbie Brown think?, answer: says the public should be outraged about her wheelchair. | question: Who believes her story?, answer: Debbie Brown | question: What is the debate?, answer: health care reform. | question: What can the wheelchair be bought for?, answer: $349 | question: Who found the cheaper chair?, answer: CNN | question: Who found a chair that could be bought for a fourth of the price?, answer: CNN | question: What can be bought for $440?, answer: a comparable wheelchair on the Internet