PORTSMOUTH

Deanna VanHook loves her high-tech wheelchair, and she's thrilled Tricare, the military's insurance program,

finally agreed to pay for it.

But she's disappointed that the two-year legal battle she and her Navy husband fought won't set a precedent for other paralyzed patients - and won't benefit military members injured in war.

In a decision reached March 8, the Department of Defense issued a final ruling in the case: that Tricare's Extended Care Health Option program, ECHO, would pay for VanHook's iBot 4000 Mobility System. The check was dated Tuesday.

The Defense Department rejected a judge's recommendation to cover the device under the broader Tricare health care program, which would have set a precedent for military members.

The ECHO program applies only to family members, meaning active-duty military patients paralyzed in Iraq or Afghanistan, for instance, wouldn't qualify for the iBot under Tricare.

"For a chair that is this life-changing," VanHook said Tuesday, "it doesn't seem like the right decision" to deny it to troops injured in combat.

"I am thrilled that I got my money back. That's nice," VanHook said. "But that really wasn't what I was going for. I was really hoping for a precedent, for something that would make getting the chair easier for other people."

For more than 20 years after a devastating car accident, VanHook relied on a standard wheelchair to get around. But her shoulder muscles eventually deteriorated from overuse.

To keep up with two children, one of whom is disabled, VanHook needed more help.

VanHook and her husband, Tom VanHook, took out a home-equity loan on their Portsmouth home last March to buy the $24,000 iBot. The device uses a gyroscope and computers to navigate stairs and power over unpaved, uneven surfaces.

The iBot seemed a necessity, especially because Tom

VanHook, an ER doctor at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, might be called to serve overseas. Doctors agreed that it was, and the pair submitted the receipts to Tricare for reimbursement.

Even as Tricare fought to deny the claim, VanHook found her life revolutionized by the iBot. She can change light bulbs on the ceiling - the chair has a mode that lifts her off the ground - reach top shelves, and drive over playgrounds and trails.

"I'm thankful, but I wanted so much more," VanHook said from Little Rock, Ark., where she and children are living while her husband serves in Afghanistan. Tom VanHook deployed with a Marine unit last month.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com