Apria - Charging me separate for CPAP Humidifier on the Resmed A10

[SuperSleeper]

Putting on my Admin hat here: Just a friendly reminder to keep on topic and try to refrain from posting comments that could be viewed as a personal swipe at other members...

[iSnore]

The way I see it, I bought a Respironics DS6T Humidifier with Heated Hose and a ResMed AirFit P10 nasal pillow mask (with all three cushions) for somewhere around $66 ($80 initial payment minus $13.55 first months rent on the DS560P). I don't care how they billed it because I can't even get the mask for $66 OOP.

[AlanE]

I believe the premise there was; yes you pay a small fee out of pocket but you also pay a monthly premium, every month. So in a way, insurance won't put out any money that they don't get back in spades on monthly premiums. Not just from you but all the subscribers. They, insurance companies, love people that pay every month but never get sick. With my monthly premium being so low (benny from where I work) and despite the fact that I pay 20% coinsurance on top of that I'm still getting a good deal on supplies verses paying full price for it. Others may not be so fortunate.

[Sleeprider]

There is no free ride. Every dollar spent by insurance for your health costs, came out of wages, income and savings of you or someone else. The healthy pay for the sick. In the U.S. we have social medicine with profits for insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and DME, rather than government. It's the cost of so-called free choice, except our treatment is now decided more by corporations than government.

[parkerdt]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Insurance Companies!

A week ago, I would have told you that my CIGNA plan pays 100% And that I have a local DME.

Now CIGNA is being bought by Anthem, and I will also likely have Apria.

Not a happy camper. But not much I can do, either, other than talk to my employer, which I have done.

[sleepybeaver]

Did Crapria forget to charge you for the power brick and cord separately?
In my case it was actually to my advantage to be charged separately since insurance paid 100% on everything under $499.
Your situation in different and you might look into returning everything to Crapria and replacing it at more reasonable prices somewhere else.
I am anxiously awaiting a confirmation letter from Crapria indicating they have converted my perpetual rental to rent to own,with the last payment already paid by the insurance company.
I may still use them for masks as loans my new copays are less than online prices.

I'm getting shirts made that say "APRIA IF IT CAN GO WRONG" IT WILL GO WRONG" My wife and I both had problems with them.

[iSnore]

That's why they're called crApria and Lincareless.

[rockncountry101]

Lincare told me the same thing. They said that if I didn't pay the extra for the humidifier on the A10 that they would "lock out" the humidifier. How do they even do that? It's integrated into the system. I told them that I would pay cash and that's what I did. But they didn't get it. I went online and bought it. I saved about $1,000 paying cash for sleep study and equipment. The sad part was that I waited 10 years before I was diagnosed because I didn't think I could afford it without insurance.

[AlanE]

Should have called their bluff.

[Let Me Sleep]

. I'm on a high deductible Cigna plan so this is going to all come out of pocket.

I'm also on a high deductible Cigna plan. Earlier this week I spoke with Cigna customer service and the rep was actually helpful !! She cut me off from crapria and gave me a list of other vendors in the area that can do the billing through Cigna. My pulmonary function test should eat up the rest of the high deductible, so it is worth having someone that can work with cigna once I finally get to a point where insurance will pay for something. Call a local sleep lab and see if they can suggest someone local. I've found in my SHORT time on CPAP, that the local places seem to care more about you than the nationwide chains like crapria. Good luck !