Australian cpap prices

Greendirt wrote:Part of the premium price charged in Australia is that they provide post-sales 'support', which amounts to making pressure adjustments for you. In the US you can buy just the machine with no 'support' premium built in.

Actually no. The whole premise behind brick and mortar DME's is that they are supposed to provide you with support that a online DME (supposedly) can't. Insurance companies rarely treat an Online DME as an In Network as a result.

Most users in the US get their CPAP equipment via their sleep dr via a brick and mortar DME. Most DR's have a phobia about online DME's. I'm sure the % that get via other non-support post-sales places is quite low.

BTW, our host CPAP.com does provide support over the phone.

Greendirt,

Your experience is consistent with the graft and rorting tactics myself and others have been experiencing.

One of the arguments I got was that the US version of the CPAP machine would not work on the australian cellular network. Fair enough I thought - until I found out that the Australian machines don't hook up to the resumed system anyways. Smoke mirrors, lies and BS if you ask me.

"Part of the premium price charged in Australia is that they provide post-sales 'support', which amounts to making pressure adjustments for you"

I had to laugh at this argument from the providers. I have an Auto - and any changes, I regard as being my responsibility to understand what I am doing with the machine (I guess it's only complicated to the lazy rip off merchants busy counting their money eh?). To build that into the charge of the machine when they charge for each visit anyways is just yet another unethical act bordering on theft.

With resmed pressuring US suppliers now, I think it's time we stopped cowering in fear and exposed resumed for anti competitive and unethical behaviour.

My other understanding is the the Australian retail price is in the same ballpark as what US 'bricks and motar DMEs' charge to health insurers. The option of just buying a machine, with or without phone support, is very limited in Australia.

Few Australians would have insurance coverage for CPAP, thus they pay full price from their own money unless they find a workaround, like buying from the bigger US market with more purchase options.

There are lots of ResMed and other CPAP shops popping up. Often in nice areas with luxury fit outs, full service, and top dollar charged. There are more modest outlets too, and a few offering somthing between Australian and US pricing without the hassle of an overseas purchase with no accessible warranty (shipping is too high for a claim to be worthwhile).

It's easy money for a lot of people in a controlled market.

It's the same here in South Korea. Sleep apnea is not covered by the national health care system so everything must be paid out of pocket. I paid about $700 USD for my overnight sleep test and they would like me to also do an overnight titration test for $600. A new Resmed S9 Autoset with humidifier costs about $2,600 and they would charge another $200 for a Mirage FX mask. Even the filters for the S9 are about $5 each whereas in the States they run for about $1.00. The S9 that I am renting for 3 weeks is costing me another $200 while I wait for my equipment to arrive from the USA.

I figure that by purchasing my equipment from Craigslist and Ebay in the States instead of through my Korean doctor, I will be saving over $2,000. Treating sleep apnea in Korea is sadly only a luxury that can be afforded by the relatively well off; the average middle-aged Korean worker only makes about $2,200 per month....