Why So Expensive?

[hobbs]

But hurry, Obamacare is coming!

and Obamacare is what is hurting those that have insurance and our good plans are going away . . .

And you are sure of this how? My employer provided Blue Cross is not changing at all. The difference ACA makes is if I leave my job I can actually get affordable insurance with HBP and Sleep Apnea.

[hobbs]

But hurry, Obamacare is coming!

. . . and Obamacare is what is hurting those that have insurance and our good plans are going away . . .

And you are sure of this how? My employer provided Blue Cross is not changing at all. The difference ACA makes is if I leave my job I can actually get affordable insurance with HBP and Sleep Apnea.

[Bobshouse]

But hurry, Obamacare is coming!

and Obamacare is what is hurting those that have insurance and our good plans are going away and the ones we will get have more for us to pay and our premiums will increase to help pay for those that don't pay for theirs through or don't pay much through obamacare. and it doesn't matter if those that pay their own insurance are on ssi and low income! we still have to subsidize obamacare!

That's exactly why I went through all the steps to get my new machine before the changes come into play. I hope they find away to delay it for a year.

[trish6hundred]

Hi kmar92,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Best of luck to you with your CPAP therapy.

[me50]

But hurry, Obamacare is coming!

and Obamacare is what is hurting those that have insurance and our good plans are going away and the ones we will get have more for us to pay and our premiums will increase to help pay for those that don't pay for theirs through or don't pay much through obamacare. and it doesn't matter if those that pay their own insurance are on ssi and low income! we still have to subsidize obamacare!

That's exactly why I went through all the steps to get my new machine before the changes come into play. I hope they find away to delay it for a year.

I agree. I am not sure why I all the sudden did this but I am glad I did. We weren't supposed to find out until Oct. 1 what changes would be forthcoming with our insurance but the employee told me (she is new and probably didn't know better) this past week. She also told me I was eligible for supplemental insurance because my plan is going away and I told her I was not eligible for supplemental insurance (I think it is called medigap) and she insists that I am b/c my plan is not going to be available anymore. She worries me because she could be steering a lot of people in the wrong direction and it cannot be changed for one year OR worse, she can sign people up for medigap on the last day and they aren't eligible for it even though she thinks they are and then they have no insurance b/c, like me, I don't use medicare but have an advantage plan.

[toot3000]

Resmed wanted $A2900 for S9 and I live 3 kilometres away from their head office. I only paid $A1340 from an American supplier. The possible reason Aussies don't buy from America is because Resmed only give assistance to machines purchased in Australia and New Zealand.

A tip for Aussies buying from the US, with the S9, buy in two separate lots for complete package to keep the price below $1200, otherwise customs will hold up delivery and charge you a $50 fee as there is only a $1200 duty free limit.

[Sleepster]

Yes the medical field in Australia is highly regulated but it appears to me that in the US you require a prescription from a Doctor to even buy a Cpap device whilst here in Australia I do not, I can just buy without a script.

If Resmed can produce the machines here in Australia and market them in the US at half the price as in Australia I suspect that there is more to the story.

You're aware that there's government regulation, and you suspect there's more to the story?!

In my experience whenever government regulators get involved anything can happen.

[lincolnr]

As I understand it, a lot of American pharmaceuticals are much more here than elsewhere.

$A2900 is an obscene amount of dough for a CPAP. If it cost that much here, I would just design and build my own. I've already done that once, while waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn. It took a bunch of fiddling, but it cost me maybe $50 or so, including false starts. It worked fairly well, but it was noisy and had absolutely no bells and whistles. Ok, if you used a corrugated hose it would whistle! Then I stored it in the garage and the mice lived in it. Sigh. Anyway, the idea was that certain small diameter computer cooling fans produce approximately the same pressure at a wide range of flow rates. I put a few in series to get enough pressure. Those of you who are handy may figure this out, but I don't want to provide more information and get chastised and sued!

Anyway, I wish someone would make a commercially available super simple CPAP for all the people who can't afford a fancy one. Of course, once you got it past the FDA, I don't know how much cheaper it would be. It's necessary to jump through a lot of hoops to get there. Some of those requirements are traumatic memories I seem to have forgotten since I don't work at a medical device company at the moment.
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OT part of message:
I wish people would stop calling it Obamacare. From what I understand, it's derived from Romneycare. (I live in Massachusetts.) We have Romneycare here and the sky hasn't fallen here yet. It's not the greatest, but it's hard not to be better than what we had before. I'm guessing that the Affordable Care Act will work out similarly. If it does, I think Romney should get a bit of the credit. Or even if it doesn't. In the US, we were already subsidizing the folks who couldn't afford insurance. Hospitals can't turn away acutely sick people who are broke. It was called free care, and I had a temporary job helping to investigate it, many years ago. Blue Cross wanted to know more about it, since they were required to pitch in some of the money.

[me50]

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OT part of message:
Hospitals can't turn away acutely sick people who are broke. It was called free care, and I had a temporary job helping to investigate it, many years ago. Blue Cross wanted to know more about it, since they were required to pitch in some of the money.

When my child was in the hospital for 2 years with less than 10% chance of survival, we had a hospital that agreed to treat my child and a medical airplane was hired to transport to the hospital. During all of this, I was told that hospitals can turn any patient away that is not having a medical emergency and if they are having a medical emergency, all they are required to do is stabilize the patient and then they can release the patient. For profit hospitals are more likely to do this than a not for profit hospital (I am not saying for profit hospitals do this but if it happens, it is more likely to happen here. Also, not for profit hospitals may discharge a patient to early if they are subsidizing too many patients at one time. The hospital loved having my child there b/c the insurance company paid and paid well and that hospital fought transferring my child to another hospital). Anyway, sorry. I got off track of what I intended to say.

[alby_c]

The disparity of prices between Australia and the US is a painful topic for those of us here. It is not just
Resmed kit - the other vendors pile it on too.
There is much heat and noise on an Australian technical forum on this topic - http://whirlpool.net.au/ - just search for CPAP and you will find the threads. They discuss at length the best/cheapest etc way to source CPAP equipment and supplies as well as providing a local support forum for aussie OSA sufferers. They also have the customs declaration codes for import tax and GST exemption on CPAP machines and masks so that even if the price goes over $1,000 you can get it in without tax or hassle - just get the supplier to put the relevant codes on the package and its all sweet and then only one shipping charge- worked for me.
It is not just machines - replacement pillows for my mask cost $69 online Aussie websites- $79 in the shops and I can get them on line in US for $19. I can buy a single pillow with shipping cheaper than locally - its insane.

So to address your initial question - yes the price difference is shameful, none of the official reasons given for it ring true and unless you have an emergency, plan ahead, order from a US supplier in the supplier list and save some serious $$