Apria prove themselves again.

geoDoug wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:What puzzles me is WHY people still keep using them.....?

My insurance provider (I won't give names, but it starts with an A, ends with an A, and has an ETN in the middle.) requires that I go with Apria if I want any coverage at all. What it comes down to is this: insurance is deducted from our paycheck. If I don't take advantage of it, I'm just adding to the insurance company's bottom line. Hell, yeah, I'm gonna take advantage whenever possible of the system we are forced to buy into.

Doug.

Well......they KNOW that you folks have been taking advantage of the system and milking it. So, they're going to do something about it.....RAISE YOUR COSTS to participate.
They're STILL going to make their bottom line look good.....and you're gonna pay!

Den (wishing they would do something on the COST side of things first and quit WASTING our premium dollars on the entities that overcharge)



U.S. health-plan cost growth to tick up in 2008: survey

Thu Sep 6, 1:27 AM ET

Health plan costs are expected to rise at a slightly faster rate in 2008, after three years of flat growth, according to preliminary results of a new survey.

Health benefit costs are expected to grow 6.7 percent in 2008, after increases of around 6 percent in prior years, according to preliminary survey findings released by the health and benefits unit of Mercer Human Resource Consulting.

Costs would grow by 9 percent on average next year if the employers made no changes, but most respondents expect to see a lower increase by changing plans, adding lower-cost options or altering the design of their benefits, Mercer said.

"It's only a slight uptick, but of course we'd rather see cost growth trending down," said Blaine Bos, a senior Mercer consultant.

The results represent responses from 1,557 employer health plan sponsors. Mercer said around 3,000 employers will ultimately participate in the survey and complete results will be released by the end of the year.

Fifty-six percent of the employers surveyed said that they will require employees to pay a bigger share of health plan costs in 2008.

Employers may seek to implement higher premium contributions, deductibles or co-payments, among other actions, Mercer said.

I had been on CPAP for 12 years when I got a new machine from Apria. I got my first machine from a literally mom and pop DME near Atlanta. Apria insisted that I go to to a 'class' to pick up my CPAP. Much of the class was a lock step filling out of forms, taking the machines out of the box, being shown how to use them, etc. They had baskets full of masks to try with our new CPAPs, and the RT was good at fitting the masks -- I don't think that anybody got a full face mask.