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Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
#11
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
(01-01-2019, 02:56 PM)fortywinks Wrote: Even if you can find a decent used machine on Craigslist the cost of the supplies would kill you.

It ain't necessarily so. I do OK so far after firing my former sleepydoc & DME and disassociating all of my sleep-apnea activities from my insurer, and I'm retired and on a very low budget (and Medicaid). As a few folks have observed in various discussion threads lately, the insurers' replacement schedule for masks, parts, and supplies is very much overestimated. A mask will easily last a couple of years, a mask cushion or nosepiece six months to a year, a hose a year or two, a humidifier tank a couple of years at least, and so on. Filters cost me 42¢ per month and Dawn dishwashing liquid about the same.

However, the expensive part is trying various masks to find the ones that are workable for you. Even there, you can use the return-for-refund "insurance" that some online suppliers offer: pay some amount up front to have the option of getting the rest of your money back within 30 days, or whatever.
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#12
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
(01-01-2019, 02:12 PM)Melman Wrote: The people who really get ripped off by this system are those without insurance. They pay the full inflated price and don't benefit from the marked down price the insurance pays.
Except in those cases, one can simply buy consumables from one of the vendors on the list, or Amazon.
Even though my insurance covers 100% with no copay, I still buy a fair amount of equipment online.  The hoses that my DME provides are cheap junk... not actual Resmed hoses... yet they bill twice what I buy real Resmed hoses for.
-- Rich
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#13
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
(01-01-2019, 07:22 PM)CB91710 Wrote:
(01-01-2019, 02:12 PM)Melman Wrote: The people who really get ripped off by this system are those without insurance. They pay the full inflated price and don't benefit from the marked down price the insurance pays.
Except in those cases, one can simply buy consumables from one of the vendors on the list, or Amazon.
Even though my insurance covers 100% with no copay, I still buy a fair amount of equipment online.  The hoses that my DME provides are cheap junk... not actual Resmed hoses... yet they bill twice what I buy real Resmed hoses for.

Dispensing generic junk is a valid way for a DME to increase margins. The way around it is to use the proprietary heated hose like "Climateline", and make that part of your prescription. Filters are no big deal either way will work okay.
Sleeprider
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INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#14
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
This is how medical billing works.
The charge has no relationship to the cost and is extremely inflated.
Medicare or the insurance company pay according to a fee schedule that pays a small fraction of what they are billed.

There is no transparency.

Consumers no ability to comparison shop.

If you are paying cash God help you.

No this system does not make any sense.
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#15
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
Looked at the billing paperwork that came with my new machine. Mask and headgear was billed as a single unit. In the past with my old unit, my Quatro FX mask was also billed as a single unit, the cushions were extra. The mask and headgear came in a manufacturer's sealed commercial packaging. With my insurance, I just look at it and say, okay, that is what I got and you paid for all of it.

I am on Medicare with a real good supplement.

Homer
Homer

Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Monitors are also Advisory Members, just with Extra Work assigned.

Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
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#16
RE: Was I Cheated By The Equipment Supplier?
(01-02-2019, 12:40 AM)joesetx Wrote: ... No this system does not make any sense.

<rant>
That's for sure. I see indications all over the place of the bureaucratic disease, whether originating with the insurance corporations or the medical-industry lobbyists or (with Medicare & Medicaid) the legions of Congressdroids over the decades. One big cause is all of those droids at various levels trying to justify their jobs. They sit around and make up stupid new rules because they have nothing better to do. They can't put some scheme in place and get it to where it's working OK and then just leave it alone. They have to keep messing with it, and inevitably it becomes a huge mess.

(Grumble, grumble ... kids these days ...)
</rant>
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