ANNAPOLIS, Md. — You wouldn't wear high heels to go for a run.
It's the same idea for amputees like John Edward Heath, who lost his leg after he was hit by a drunk driver.
When he tries to jog in a prosthetic device designed only for walking:
"You feel the lag," Heath told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington as he ran on a treadmill at Foundation Fitness in Annapolis. "It feels extremely heavy."
Compare that to using his running blade, and you'd understand why a professional adaptable athlete like him might have as many as six different prostheses, each specialized for a different sport like weight-lifting or snowboarding.
"Huge difference," he said as he jogged easily.
But you don't have to be a Paralympian to need this type of equipment. Anybody with a physical disability who wants to hike, bike, swim or do anything active would benefit.
Problem is - they cost thousands of dollars.
"So for me, I'm a blessed individual," Heath said. "I served in the military for 10 years and I have endless prosthetic resources. I thought that was common for the average American citizen. Come to find out, it's not."
Insurance companies in Maryland only cover one prosthetic device, usually the most basic kind. That is - until two days ago.
"It's opening up a whole world to them that they didn't actually know would exist," Sheryl Sachs, a clinician at Linthicum-based prosthetic company, Dankmeyer Inc., said of her patients.
Last year, WMAR-2 News told you how Sachs and Heath teamed up to fight for legislation that would expand insurance coverage for prostheses. The pair worked to convince lawmakers and lobbyists that each device would only cost insurance companies a few cents a month.
They were successful, and the "So Every Body Can Move Act" went into effect on January 1st.
They received support from Senator Sarah Elfreth, Senator Pamela Beidle, and Delagate Ashanti Martinez.
“By the end of the session, the committees where the bills were introduced, every committee member asked to be added on as a sponsor for the legislation," Sachs said. "It passed out of the Senate unanimously and there’s only one individual on the House side who had voted against the legislation."
But when the state was strapped for cash, especially after the collapse of the Key Bridge just before the legislative session ended, they had to compromise and toss out the part of the bill that included custom orthotic devices. Those are external braces that support a part of the body with a weakness or deformity.
And just like you wouldn't run in high heels, a child with cerebral palsy wouldn't be able to do ballet in a rigid piece of plastic.
"They might need something that doesn't have a high back, but that gives them support around their foot or ankle to prevent their foot from rolling," Sachs explained.
But again - insurance companies right now only cover the baseline, like a device you might feel comfortable wearing in an outdoor setting, but not in a professional one.
"So we're essentially asking them to choose, do you want to wear something to work that you really can't, or do you want to wear something to work that you can't be physically active in?" Sachs said.
She and Heath don't want people to have to make that choice. So, back to the state capitol they go, hoping to have the same success as last year - success that has paved the way for more than 15 states to put forth their own legislation this year, so that "every body" can move.
You can learn more about the national grassroots So Every Body Can Move campaign, and get involved, here.
Sachs and Heath's bill for this year is sponsored again by Delegate Martinez, Senator Beidle, as well as Senator Shelly Hettleman.