New, Apria,

Hi I'm new to this. 2 sleeps studies show I have OSA. I'm working with Apria. They say they are recommending Resmed airsense 10. I think I'm going to have to buy the machine through my insurance (high deductible). They say this machine is apap. Should I try to rent one first? Is there much difference with machines? Any advice appreciated

If you get the Airsense 10 autoset you will be happy with it. Be careful with Apria however. They are known to over bill and over ship supplies. If you are purchasing out of pocket, you may be better off purchasing from the sposor of this forum. Compare prices before you spend a fortune at Apria.
ALSO.....Check out Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Res-Med-AirSense ... irsense+10

I agree with LSAT. Get the Autoset machine instead of whatever Airsense model they try to stick you with.
Also, NEVER give them your credit card number!
Apria has a HORRIBLE reputation.......here and everywhere else. If you doubt that, go to the Search line above and put it in.


Den

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Thank you. I'm thinking about dumping Apria as they have already been annoying. What are good companies?

http://www.cpap.com has been excellent for the 3 years I've been doing cpap. (but they are not in network for my insurance). But I still order from them. When I go through my insurance, I have to use Lincare- Their billing dept is annoying, but their warehouse order system- I call them- works well. Now, when I tried to deal with Apria (they take my insurance too)- I couldn't even get anyone to call me back, so I gave up. Try calling some other in network companies and see what happens.
I decided my peace of mind and time were too valuable to waste time arguing with companies that couldn't take care of me. So mostly I order from http://www.cpap.com and not go through my insurance.

Now, if I was buying a new machine, I would try to go through insurance just to have that big amount of money apply to my deductible, especially in Jan. - you still have a whole year ahead of you to meet your deductible.

What LSAT and Wulfman said in their comments is spot on. What I would suggest is to sit down with a calculator and determine the following:
1) Your out of pocket through APRIA for a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet or it's "for her" variant if appropriate. PLEASE - keep in mind that with Apria you may well be in a rental agreement - you need to keep in mind as well what that agreement locks you into.
2) Compare that OOP with the cost for the same machine from out host https://www.cpap.com/ Make certain you are comparing apples to apples (what, specifically is included in what you get from Apria - details really matter)
3) How close is your OOP to the end cost from CPAP.com?
4) Think about other conditions, treatments, etc. in areas for which you may not find the same beneficial cost relationship that can eat up the deductible quickly.
5) Check with your insurance if Apria is the ONLY DME you can use - you may well find alternatives that will serve you better. Especially ask your insurance about the process of buying supplies out of network and submitting bills. You may find it costing less (perhaps more work, though)
This is realistically, a variation on the traditional "buy or build" computation.

Back in 2005, when I was about to start, I "did the math" and came up with the fact that between the deductibles and co-pays, it was going to come out about even.........paying out-of-pocket as opposed to using insurance (in the traditional sense of going through a brick and mortar DME).
Where I lucked out is that I had been talking to my (group) insurance provider and found out that they considered me to be "in-network" and would reimburse me for equipment I purchased out-of-pocket. So, I purchased all of my equipment from CPAP.COM and then used their invoice (which had all of the insurance codes printed on it) to create an invoice which I then sent to my insurance provider and they reimbursed me for 80% of what I had paid. On that invoice, I was the billing party and the insurance provider was the party being billed. As I said, I had discussed this arrangement with them prior to doing this and they agreed to it.
However, I was prepared to go completely out-of-pocket with my equipment rather than going through a local DME. I had read many horror stories on the forum and was not thrilled after contacting all the local ones prior to my decision.

Another thing you have to watch out for if going through the local DME and insurance is that if the payment periods overlap the end/beginning of the fiscal (usually calendar) year, they can zap you with another deductible amount at the beginning of that next year. So, that can end up costing you much more than you may have counted on.


Den

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Wulfman... wrote:I agree with LSAT. Get the Autoset machine instead of whatever Airsense model they try to stick you with.
Also, NEVER give them your credit card number!
Apria has a HORRIBLE reputation.......here and everywhere else. If you doubt that, go to the Search line above and put it in.


Den

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Wulfman Den is correct (as usual).

I was once a fan of Apria, as they were local, and treated me quite well. They have since metastasized into an impersonal giant, with little interest in you, or even with talking to you.

A few months back, i got a new airsense autoset 10, and medicare worked it through apria. Before sending me the unit, apria removed the memory card, and wanted me to let the machine transmit my compliance data, continuously, to apria.

I don't do that (so I set the machine to airplane mode), so now I get daily, annoying robo calls about enabling the machine to communicate w apria. Had I known what annoying (you-know-whats) they would be about wanting my compliance data, I would have just bought the machine myself, through our forum sponsors.


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I use Apria which my provider set me up with. They will robo call you until no end...also my co-pays on masks and hose are almost retail pricing..50.00 bucks for a mask...Stay away

I would really be worried on Apria fools day.

I had Crapria for awhile as well. They were sooooo bad that I turned my machine in, and bought my own privately. It takes literally hours to get a human at Crapria. Don't ask how I know!