Anyone here NOT use insurance? (U.S.A)

I'm in California, and I would like to get a sleep study and hopefully get equipment if needed, but since I have horrible insurance, I have to pay full price for everything. If anyone else did this, may I ask how much you paid

You can get reconditioned (slightly used) equipment various places, including from members here, and/or Secondwindcpap.com for a lot less than new, but you have to know what you're getting. You haven't said why you think you need a machine, but an autopap (has a range of pressures) vs a Cpap (1 fixed pressure) is what you want to be able to calibrate ('titrate') what pressure settings would be best, and most auto machines will do plain cpap if that turns out to work better for you in the long run. But why do you think you have apnea please? There are conditions that are either 'like' apnea, but not it, or that can accompany it, but won't show up on home testing properly, and only basic obstructive apnea will show up at home. But there are also other things like thyroid problems, low Vit. D, diabetes, etc. and other labs that might be your issue, so have you recently been seen for those?

get an auto cpap and self titrate :

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/hab/5442903863.html

I can't comment on the cost of no insured testing- others will help with that. I bought my unit and heated hose from SecondwindCpap and my mask from Amazon - total price was $700 for everything. You'll get lots of good advice here about working out your equipment needs.

I have health insurance. I actually fantasize about NOT using it, oftentimes. Its fine for primary care, major hospitalization and OK for dental care, but for specialist stuff, most of my insurance plans have been poor.

I envy those who can afford to pay for their specialist stuff all out of pocket and bypass the third party middleman (insurance). Im already doing that for paying for most of my gear in the last couple years, its just easier even though my insurance will pay for mask replacements, hoses, cushions and stuff.

The people I really envy are those who just bypass the insurance entirely and do everything outside the insurance chain of command. Sleep studies, titration studies...then youd really start getting full control because everything becomes just between you the payer and your private doctor...to me thats the ideal situation.

Sleep study or titration study in my area runs around $2300 for a full night. To me, thats actually worth it, I just had a split night that did not go well (I think?), Im thinking of going to someone else and just telling them, "I am already dxed with OSA and here is a download off my S9 APAP, you can see its going up into the 11s and 12s for my 95th, HOW MUCH FOR A NEW TITRATION STUDY????"

doesn't hurt to ask a sleep study provider or a few for a cash quote. probably need a prescription from your doctor. I did that for some type of scan years ago, and once I had the prescription a local hospital gave me reasonable cash price for it - didn't do it, though, wound up in an emergency room a few years later and got it that way as a precautionary measure and it all came back clean.

Your post is kinda confusing, I read it as "Do you NOT use insurance for all your machines and supplies" ?????? I quit Lincare shortly after starting CPAP when I went into my DME's office and asked for a particular mask. I was told I couldn't have that one as it wasn't in inventory.......I then E-mailed Medicare and told them what happened and to cancel any and all future supplies from any DME. Since that time, I have always purchased every thing I need from CPAP.com, the sponsors of this forum. I just purchased my 4th APAP machine from them and still feel it's the best thing I ever did. Course I can afford to buy what I need any time I need it, so that helps...BUT, I am not under Medicare or any one else's control.....

Don't be afraid to ask your local DME if you can private pay. I asked mine and they quoted me a price even lower than cpap .com Now sure how that is possible, but that's what the customer service rep told me and I even clarified at least 3 times about the price. My DME prices all CPAP/APAP models the same price and same goes for Bi-level. DreamStation cpap? $795. DreamStation Pro cpap? $795. DreamStation Auto cpap? $795. That includes the heated humidifier too! My sleep study cost $2350 for an in-lab one.

I'm on a high deductible plan with a fairly healthy HSA balance. I'm still young (almost 35) and I don't have any other major health problems (knock on wood)...so I've never even gotten close to my deductible amount.

When I needed a new machine last year, I told my Doc that I just wanted the prescription so I could purchase online with my HSA funds and save some money. Everything has been going fine with my treatment, so I haven't needed to get a sleep study. If my wife ends up getting pregnant in the near future, I might spring for getting a new study since I will easily meet my deductible with that kind of a life/health event.

My at-home sleep study would have been $500 without insurance - and when my insurance hiccuped they did intend to collect that much. That doesn't include the follow up office visit, though, which might be another $100. So I think the minimum you can get away with for a minimal doctor diagnosed sleep study is $600. You may be able to look around, price them out, bargain, and get it down, though, particularly if you offer to do more work, like picking up the device from their office rather than having their tech drop it off and pick it up.

This testing only measures 4 parameters, though - blood oxygen, pulse, breathing effort (chest strap), and pressure at nose (snoring, actual inhale/exhale, etc). This is enough to prescribe an xPAP machine, though.

After that, my insurance changed and nothing is covered until I meet the $2k deductable. Since I'm not planning on getting anywhere near it this year, I simply bought my machine online and plan on managing my own care.

My sleep apnea is very mild, though, and there aren't any additional health problems that would complicate the diagnosis.

Now, however, if I had to go back and do it all over again, knowing then what I know now, I would have simply purchased a logging pulse oximeter (I use the CMS50F), and a full data autoset xPAP machine. These two together perform a much more useful sleep study than the simple $600 sleep study I took earlier. The only thing I don't have, then, is an official diagnosis and prescription - but many argue that you don't need either to manage standard cases of sleep apnea.

The autoset xPAP machine will figure out if you're having apnea, what type of apnea, and it'll measure flow, flow limitations, snoring, and a whole slew of other data.

If you look at the data you'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether the machine will improve your sleep or not. If so, keep using it. If not, sell the machine and you'll be out far less than the cost of a sleep study.

I did not have insurance last year when I had the overnight sleep study done. The cost of the study was $2,000, which I got knocked down to $800 cash the night of the study by agreeing to take the place of someone that canceled. I ended up getting the study done sooner and more cheaply than if I had waited. This was a full night study with all the wires, video and stuff. The doctor's fees were extra and ended up being $500, which I asked for and received a cash discount of 35%. A lot of times you will not receive a discount unless you ask.

I paid $400 for my new CPAP, mask and heated hose. That included cash discount.

This year I have insurance but I haven't got any comparisons.

Easybreathe.com in California is an online DME that offers sleep apnea prescription services from $99 if you qualify by completing their questionaire, to $399 if you complete the home sleep study. That is a pretty good price for a doctor to review your case and provide a prescription. Where you use that prescription is your business, but I think you should have it, even though you can probably get equipment without it.

Once you have the prescription an auto-titrating CPAP is most likely going to work well for you. The most popular models have already been discussed. With and auto CPAP and software almost anyone can successfully titrate using the help on the forum.

I did the easy breathe home study, I had to get my general DR to approve the study. Then you send it back.
You get results quickly. Then if you are diagnosed, you go back to your DR and he writes the script.
Study and machine etc. cost me about $1,000. Best money ever spent, with some help from folks here
you can tweak your machine to deliver the therapy you need.