Surviving DME with Medicare
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2017 4:16 pm
First of all, my primary insurance is with Medicare and I have an excellent secondary health plan. I am willing to pay 100% out of pocket in order to get the exact equipment that I want if that's what it takes to avoid hassles and attempted ripoffs from the DME. Obviously, I would like for my insurance to kick in as much as possible, but I'm not willing to go through a typical car buying experience with something like this. I've already read enough on this forum to understand how some DME's try to maximize their profits by steering people to certain low end devices even though Medicare pays the same amount regardless of equipment. I don't intend to have that experience.
There are 5 Medicare contract suppliers in my immediate vicinity. I'm going to try to get my doctor to be very equipment-specific when he write the Rx. But, assuming that I simply get a generic Rx specifying cpap with heated humidity, I want to have a game plan in mind to get what I want before going to these DME's. Could this be as simple as me putting together a very specific list; presenting this along with my Rx and insurance information to each DME in order to get my cost; and then contacting Medicare and my secondary insurance to validate the cost estimates? I realize that none of the DME's are going to to want to do business this way, but I'm in control, I can pay 100% if necessary, and I can walk.
What am I overlooking in this process? Will they be unwilling to give me a cost estimate unless I surrender my Rx? Will they still want to show me a Ford when I specifically requested a BMW? And most importantly, will it be impossible for me to corroborate their estimates of my cost by contacting Medicare and my supplemental carrier? thanks in advance
There are 5 Medicare contract suppliers in my immediate vicinity. I'm going to try to get my doctor to be very equipment-specific when he write the Rx. But, assuming that I simply get a generic Rx specifying cpap with heated humidity, I want to have a game plan in mind to get what I want before going to these DME's. Could this be as simple as me putting together a very specific list; presenting this along with my Rx and insurance information to each DME in order to get my cost; and then contacting Medicare and my secondary insurance to validate the cost estimates? I realize that none of the DME's are going to to want to do business this way, but I'm in control, I can pay 100% if necessary, and I can walk.
What am I overlooking in this process? Will they be unwilling to give me a cost estimate unless I surrender my Rx? Will they still want to show me a Ford when I specifically requested a BMW? And most importantly, will it be impossible for me to corroborate their estimates of my cost by contacting Medicare and my supplemental carrier? thanks in advance