NPR CPAP Story

[D.H.]

Of course, you never have to pay more with insurance than without, provided you do your homework. No insurance plan forbids you from bypassing your plan and purchasing the supplies yourself.

[desipap]

I just got my machine that has thee Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities.
I don't want anyone looking at my data, other than those I actually give (posts on this forum for example).
I turned-off the Bluetooth and not connecting the WiFi. Great to have have the SD card!

Did you pay for it yourself or thru insurance?

I went through insurance. Lets see if I get away with it. My DME told me that my insurance is fairly lax, unlike Medicaid and Blue Cross. I save about $300, since I have a high deductible insurance $590 for the set vs about $890 at some online stores.

[RogerSC]

I got my (first) cpap via employer healthcare insurance back in 2012, and the data has always been between me and my sleep doctor. Never had a modem attached to it, just an SD card. When I have my yearly follow-up with my sleep doctor (keeps Medicare happy, I understand), he looks at the data and certifies for Medicare that I'm compliant. That's about it. Seems like this person should have known, or at least have been warned, that his sleep data was going to a third party. As soon as I heard that my sleep data was going to a party outside of my doctor and me, that would have been it for me...I'd dump the cpap that the insurance company paid for if they had to have my data as a condition of paying for the cpap, and get a machine in another way. Bad enough that if you tell a life insurance company that you have sleep apnea that your life insurance rates go up, therapy or not.

Hopefully this sort of media coverage doesn't keep people away from cpap therapy.

[OfftoNeverNeverland]

FWIW, I removed the cellular modem from my dreamstation, easy. I've read on this blog how to do it for resumed, need to pop out embedded modem. Putting dreamstation into airplane mode or using dial to shut off modem is a fools errand as respironics has embedded software that turns modem back on in 3 days. Thus, removal is the best option. Sleep coaches, dme's and RT's not happy when you do this (lost sight of their therapy versus control issues) but give your provider the sd card before 90 days surveillance period is up. I have heard they still surveil you after 90 days if the modem is inserted even though insurance or Medicare is on the hook at that point. They collect data for research purposes etc. This blog is truly a godsend. Hang in there and fight the power.

[chunkyfrog]

Tinfoil hats, anyone?