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Charge for built in humidifier? - Printable Version

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Charge for built in humidifier? - davidy - 12-16-2014

I'm getting a ResMed 10 and I noticed the bill included a charge for the built in humidifier. Is this normal? When I asked about it they took about 10 minutes researching and came back and said it was a mandatory charge (that I couldn't have the ResMed 10 w/o it). Does anyone have any experience with this?

David

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - justMongo - 12-16-2014

We've seen another person ask the same question. Since the humidifier in integral to the A10 machine, the DMEs are attempting to make this charge. Other machines have separate humidifiers; and they were able to charge for those.

As for normal -- too few data points to say it's normal. It may be that they are committing insurance fraud -- time will tell.
I am not a lawyer; but IMHO: it is an illegal charge when dealing with insurance.
We'll know when the CEO of the DME is frog-marched out in shackles!

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - davidy - 12-16-2014

I called my insurance company to make sure that this charge was legit. They spoke with the DME and they said that while it is a single unit, if you turn it over the unit says CPAP on one side and Humidifier on the other so that justifies them billing for both. That satisfied the insurance company so now I guess I'll be paying for 20% of the built-in humidifier (co-pay).

I'm still interested in anyone else's experiences with this.

David

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - PaytonA - 12-16-2014

(12-16-2014, 12:06 PM)davidy Wrote: I'm getting a ResMed 10 and I noticed the bill included a charge for the built in humidifier. Is this normal? When I asked about it they took about 10 minutes researching and came back and said it was a mandatory charge (that I couldn't have the ResMed 10 w/o it). Does anyone have any experience with this?

David

Sounds like B.S. to me. My B.S. meter just went ape when I read your post. It does sound like what some DMEs are touting.

If you can not get the A10 without the humidifier then it should be included in the price. At least that is the way that I see it. This may be a hangover from when the humidifier was more obviously separate and the CPAP could be purchased without a humidifier.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - PaulaO2 - 12-16-2014

Oh for...It isn't two units. You can't take them apart like you could the S9. You can't get just the machine or just the humidifier. The DME is screwing the insurance company.

But then, it sounds as if the insurance company kinda likes that kind of kink. What a crock of bloney.

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - DariaVader - 12-16-2014

The DME logic goes like this: The cost for the S10 includes a humidifier; the Insurance company has a set price for an APAP device that does not take an included humidifier into consideration and is the static, no matter what options are included. The separate charge is meant to cover a humidifier whether separate or included. I would be willing to bet Insurance companies are updating their language to support this, and that they will create a new code for combined, over time, but until there is a code for combined, this is the best compromise. If the DME were making out much better on this than on the S9, I am guessing more of us n00bs with S9s would have been given S10s, but maybe we are just sucking up old stock.




RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - justMongo - 12-16-2014

(12-16-2014, 12:43 PM)PaytonA Wrote: Sounds like B.S. to me. My B.S. meter just went ape when I read your post. It does sound like what some DMEs are touting.

If you can not get the A10 without the humidifier then it should be included in the price. At least that is the way that I see it. This may be a hangover from when the humidifier was more obviously separate and the CPAP could be purchased without a humidifier.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[Image: bs.gif]

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - Jim Bronson - 12-16-2014

I don't see the humidifier water tub offered as an accessory on the ResMed site. Nor do I see the unit offered without a humidifier. So I don't believe they should charge separately for the for the water tub. AFAIK, the only way the unit could work without the humidifier is if there was some sort of accessory bypass tube that was installed, and I can't find any such gadget on their site.

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - trish6hundred - 12-16-2014

Hi davidy,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Much success to you with your CPAP therapy and hang in there for more responses to your post.

RE: Charge for built in humidifier? - Mr. Van Winkle - 12-16-2014

I guess that is true, you can buy an end cap for them to use when your not using the humidifier , that's part of the reason Insurance is so high , I could have bought my whole set up, machine mask and whatever's for around $1100 but no the Insurance was willing to pay something like $1600 so guess what ? yep your right.

Mr. Van Winkle